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I've been writing both poetry and songs for some time now, although I have been wary of recording demos and sending lyrics to folks, as I am not too familiar with how copyright laws work for writers (I'm talking United States laws, but I'm sure most countries are similar). Do any of you know how to protect personal work so that you can do things such as post original work to YouTube or send recordings to record companies without the fear of someone else stealing your work? I figured this was as good a place as any to ask as many of you are talented writers and may be familiar with certain laws.

MusicRevisited wrote:I've been writing both poetry and songs for some time now, although I have been wary of recording demos and sending lyrics to folks, as I am not too familiar with how copyright laws work for writers (I'm talking United States laws, but I'm sure most countries are similar). Do any of you know how to protect personal work so that you can do things such as post original work to YouTube or send recordings to record companies without the fear of someone else stealing your work? I figured this was as good a place as any to ask as many of you are talented writers and may be familiar with certain laws.

Check out WGAE.. that's Writer's Guild of America East [New York City].. They have a website, and that's where you'll find out how to register your material. You can also have your material copyrighted.. that's the U.S. Copyright Office.

Thanks Violet, I'll look into it, and I'll have to get the whole audio vs written word copyright differences in order. Call it paranoia, but it's just one of those things I like to be knowledgeable in before I get myself in over my head.

Here's another idea: If you're just starting out it might be in your best interest to push your work out through as many channels as possible and not worry so much about copyright. The more people are exposed to the work the better it is for you. If at any point someone tries to attribute it to themselves or profit from it, go and take them down. Until then, you gain a lot from exposure and don't lose much from "unauthorized" copies.
Later on, when you're an established artist with a significant body of work that yields substantial income you could hire all kinds of mean lawyers to place legal safeguards on your rights (and people will copy your work anyway...).