I am all about peace of mind, and if there is one thing that brought me a little more of that is filling copyright on my music. While in most parts of the world creators are granted a copyright automatically when they put their ideas into a tangible form, filing a copyright gives an added protection to creators. In the US, this is pretty easy to do via the US government copyright filing portal, all you have to do is make an account and follow their step-by-step process to file a copyright. It is often more economical to file a group of unpublished works together, but there are different applications depending on your craft and I highly recommend checking out their website.
While it does cost to file and it can be a little tedious, we are quite lucky that we can file copyright online in a matter of minutes. Ultimately, it is quite a good investment in your own music. Filing copyright gave me an extra boost and now I feel more confident in sharing my unreleased pieces of work and somehow, doing it made the completion of my new songs more official and certain.
I genuinely believe in my music and it's catchiness, when you are doing good work and your music or art is going to remain with people, we can't blame them for humming along or writing a song that looks or sounds similar when something we made inspires them. It's not like I am one of those people who believes that someone is out to get them, no, but there are a lot of people in the world and with the increase of digital technologies if you can take one little action that makes you feel good about your work and protects it, then why not? I have an extra layer of comfort now, and ever since then I am extra excited to share my work and it's added a layer of positive energy on top of my upcoming music.
The more I grow as an artist, the more I want to work with people who are prompt about paperwork and the more I want to make sure that my paperwork is sorted out, whether it is work for hire forms, registering songs with a PRO or filing a copyright - these official papers often protect you, your music, the people you work with and your audience.
For me, filing a copyright added an extra value to my work, it not only made me feel safe, it also made me feel like I have achieved something. Sometimes things in the business world are less materialistic and more spiritual and for me, filing a copy right felt right.
Read more about what is a copyright here: https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/
Happy filing!
Rivita