protecting my beats

Labels will want to hear some original material. If they or anyone what’s to use a sample in a song they will need to pay for clearance. That can run pretty high at times plus they get a % of the tracks. I was looking at a story on Dr. Dre and they would play the track them self’s and maybe change a few lines to get around that…but he has been to court many times on that issue.

re-create it huh...i'll do that

No need to try and protect what belongs to someone else...If there's a beat you like, go listen to it then wait an hour and try to recreate it. What you come up with will probably be different enough to call your own. Then Copyright. $30 for one song or a collection...you can download the forms for free...

sticks_74126 wrote:Yes you can but you would have to do a sample clearance and that can be some big bucks. I don’t think you want to mess with that, can be very expensive that’s even if they give you the ok to use the sample. I have heard labels that have paid as much as 20k on up.

nope, i spoke with my lawyer a couple of weeks ago concerning this issue. you don't have to clear anything to copyright your shit. do your thing, create your music and copyright your production. just don't go and try to sell cds or charge anyone to witness your production until you got your shit cleared. so you can make music, copyright it, and hand it out to rappers without worrying about anyone jacking it.

I thought I read somewhere that you can copy right the arrangement of the music but you can't copyright it as your own because you used samples. Can you do that without getting a sample cleared?

docmartin120 wrote:

cameron wrote:do you clear your samples before or after the copyright process? can you copyright a track you made that includes samples and then clear them if they need be?

All your copyrighting is the arrangement. Once you sell a beat it's up to whoever is going to release the track to clear it, BUT usually people won't buy something they CAN'T clear. So it's good for producers to at least find out if the sample can be cleared (find the label that owns the publishing rights, and the artist that has preformed the track and contact them for permission.)

This is where I heard it. Is this true?

the arrangment and the beat are one in the same. when you copyright something, you are claiming it as yours. at that point you can "distribute" but not "sell", it gets tricky when you want to start making money off of your sample based productions. that shit won't stop me from husslin mine b/c this shit won't effect most of us anyway. first thing they will do is slap you with an cease & desist order and then they'll investigate to see if its worth their time to sue you. what are they gonna take from me, i aint got shit to begin with. i wouldn't worry about it unless you start movin 20k+ outta your trunk. my .02, take it or leave it.

sparq wrote:

jaem wrote:lo quality burns in MP3 format will make the beats listenable but not recordable nor sellable

it may not be recordable in that format but what will stop me from recreating your beat from listening to the mp3 file? i can listen to it and recreate it to the point where it sounds exactly like yours.

that's why i go official copyright way, that way it is protected.

Great point....You can also take the low file and mix it even if it is all on one track....Real easy!!!!

Surely anything you have dated i.e a SOng on your PC is copyrighted that is the lowest form of copyright. Then if you post anything on Soundclick or similar web sites again it is copyrighted..

The easiest way is to wack your tracks on a CD and then post it to yourself, though don't trip if you have it on your computer dated it would hold up in court with or without samples....


Peace

The common misconception is that you need to do something in order to copyright your song or book, etc. In fact, the only thing you need to do is create something that copyrightable subject matter. Meaning, you make an original beat= you own a copyright for the beat. Registration is not a prerequisite to owning a valid copyright. Conversely, in many jurisdictions, the fact that you own a copyright registration does not mean that the work you sought to protect is copyrightable. Registration only deals with the issue of evidencing the date of creation, which is fundamental if you want to bring suit against someone who stole your beat.

Generally, it is the judge who will decide whether your work meets the standard for protection, i.e., whether it is an original work of authorship, and whether there is an infringement. The complexity lies in determining what is an original work of authorship...

"How can you register a beat to be copyrighted if it contains samples? That's kind of like running into a police station and saying that someone just robbed you of your weed..." - gravity

LOL

J-Villa wrote:

"How can you register a beat to be copyrighted if it contains samples? That's kind of like running into a police station and saying that someone just robbed you of your weed..." - gravity

LOL

haha....That was pretty damn funny!!!!

ive read in a book that anything tangeble is already copywritten so how does that work vs the legal copywrite? and one thing about puttin beats on the web and the mp3 not being downloadable does not mean anything if you have an external cd recorder

legally and technically, it is true when stated..."as soon as you finish writing or producing the work is copyrighted" it's just if you have to go to court, you have to prove when you actually created that work. registering your copyright is exactly what someone here said it's just to put an official date on something. but when you say when you create work on the computer, the computer puts a date on it. that's true too. but the computer's date will NOT hold up in court. if that's the case, what is to stop me from back dating my computer to the year 1988 and say it's mine.

is it possible that you can bring your equipment to court to prove it?