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In these days of file-sharing sites, copyrighting your lyrics is essential in order to get due credit for your work. Unfortunately, not many know how vulnerable their creations are until they see a disfigured version of it.
Since plagiarism has been here for ages, the first law to contain it was enacted by the then Kingdom of Great Britain way back in 1709. The United States followed the suite with the Copyright Act of 1790. Copyrighting your lyrics is crucial in preventing unauthorized copying, adaptation or distribution of your literary and musical works and not as tedious as you might think.
A common misconception about copyrighting your lyrics is that it requires publication or registration in the Copyright office. On the contrary, copyrighting your lyrics begins as soon as the work is first 'created' in a fixed form of expression such as a phonorecord or a copy. Any work can be copyrighted unless it is 'work made for hire'. Though registration and publication are not mandatory, they can add to the credibility of the claim. Copyright registration involves 2 simple steps: First, complete a form after paying a $35 filing fee. Next, prepare a clean rendition of the work and send these documents to the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C.
Once the Copyright is obtained, a Copyright notice can be used to avoid infringement. This notice consists of the copyright symbol (the letter C inside a circle), the abbreviation "Copr.", or the word "Copyright", the year of first publication and the copyright holder's name. The Copyright notice for sound recordings or musical works has a different symbol, the letter P inside a circle. Though it is optional to use a notice while publishing, it is highly recommended as a preventive measure.
The duration of Copyright for lyrics written in or after 1978 varies from 70 years after the author's death (for original works) to 120 years after creation or 95 years of publication, whichever is shorter (work made for hire).
So, our advice to all you lyricists is: start copyrighting your lyrics at the earliest. Because, as they say, "nothing is more properly a man's own than the fruit of his study.
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