How does the Songbay Copyright Protection work?
Copyright Registration at Songbay / Copyright Protection at Songbay
In addition to all the other benefits of Songbay membership, we give our Songwriters full Copyright Protection and Copyright Registration for all music and lyric uploads. In fact, many songwriters use Songbay exclusively for our free copyright protection service. The moment a song or lyric is performed publicly, broadcast or published in any way, it could theoretically be copied by anyone. A question we're often asked is "What if someone decides to plagiarise or copy my work and pass it off as their own?" A good question,,here's the answer: What protects a song or lyric from copyright infringement is the legal protection behind it. If legal protection didn't exist, anyone could read a great lyric or listen to their favourite chart hit and use it however they wished. So copyright protection forms the backbone of our service and is why so many professional songwriters use us. The moment a song or lyric is created, the composer or author automatically owns the copyright. As is the case with any online advertising or public performance, there is always a risk that material could be copied or used without permission. Copyright law across the world states that in any legal dispute, you must be able to prove you are the original author of a piece of work. To do this, you need to be able to prove that your work predates any other copy. Songbay allows you to do this. Once you have uploaded your music and lyrics, they are stored securely in the 'Songbay vault'. Each uploaded is given a unique digital reference, encrypted, and time and date stamped. We then offer our songwriters a comprehensive copyright registration service and issue copyright certificates for each upload. In the unlikely event of a copyright dispute—whether your work is used without permission or plagiarized or whether you are accused of infringing upon the work of another party, we provide a protective defence. Your Songbay records prove evidence of existence and ownership. We will forward our records to your legal representative and provide you with a written affidavit confirming the date/time uploaded and details of the copyright registration. Most companies charge for copyright protection, (around $15-$35 per song/lyric) we provide this free of charge for you at Songbay. That's some saving! Additionally, you are protected by international copyright law, that acts as a strong deterrent to potential infringers. Copyright violation is treated seriously in law, in some legal disputes, substantial payments can be awarded to the infringed party. Occasionally, we are asked "can you guarantee that nobody will ever use my work without my permission"? and our answer is simple- "Of Course not- nobody can!". As mentioned previously, there is always a theoretical risk, that despite the legal deterrents in place, work can still plagiarised. The only way to prevent this is by Not publishing or Promoting!- Not on the internet, not on the Radio or TV, not to your neighbour, not to anyone for that matter. A somewhat extreme measure, to say the least! If you look in your Songbay user area under the heading 'Copyright' you will see a list of all your protected uploads.