Licensing your music.

...

I just don't get how it is supposed to offer any protection.

...

You register the work, which grants you the license. Just as you would with a regular Copyright registry, you enter the details pertaining to date of creation and ownership which identifies YOU as the owner and legal distributor of that particular work.

DISCLAIMER: I'M DUMB AND KNOWLEDGELESS. CONSULT REALITY WHEN DEALING IN REALITY.

It offers no more protection in the US than nothing. It's just more words and fashionability.

IN THE US:

Creation of a work immediately creates a copyright. CC is a licensing thing; that is it controls who can use it. Under CC anyone can use it. Under normal (unregistered even) copyright, people MUST ask you to use your music. Under CC, they don't have to, so long as they attribute it. That's the biggest issue I have with CopyLeft movements -- they don't change much for the better for owners of IP (which I hope to be)... It's more for the receivers (who are just going to steal it anyway).

Under what you're talking about, both cases (CC or regular copyright) would be an infringement, since your work is being taken from you.

But, if you're really really really interested, find a "free lawyers for the arts" or whatever your local equivalent is. I'm sure someone will sit down with you and give you decent advice.

Under CC anyone can use it. Under normal (unregistered even) copyright, people MUST ask you to use your music. Under CC, they don't have to, so long as they attribute it. That's the biggest issue I have with CopyLeft movements -- they don't change much for the better for owners of IP (which I hope to be)... It's more for the receivers (who are just going to steal it anyway).

Say what?

What part of CUSTOMIZABLE LICENSES don't you understand? You CAN have more than "everyone can use it" rights with CC. You can have almost all rights reserved, as in, everyone can use it but they can't PROFIT from it without your permission. Or they can't use it unless it's ALSO licensed (what they created with your thing) like your license.

ETC.

Also CC is international, it's not US only.

READ, PEOPLE. READ.

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions

--

But point is, I just put some text on the page that says that. Somebody could print the PDF of my score after having removed this text and say it's theirs. Even more easily if they just alter it by putting their name on it with an earlier date than I had, making it look like *I* was trying to steal it.

So how does CC have an impact in that simple case? Or must you have published the work through a publisher before it really makes a difference? (even then, somebody could still try and pull the date and name swap trick).

As for that, if you sue them for copyright infringement (which you CAN even if you use CC, depending if they violated your license,) you have to make the case that the piece is indeed yours. How you do that, well, lawyers are needed and trials aren't easy. However, don't think that your choice of using CC licenses matters in that particular example, you'd have to defend your claims in court no matter what.

So, really, bad example. That's like arguing that CC licenses don't ensure your car against robbery.

Link again:

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions

Read this before saying stuff already answered there.

--

PS: http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses

These are the options available. Yes, all include sharing, but everything else is different depending on what you choose. If you want the old-fashioned way of doing things, as in, NO COPIES, EVER, don't upload scraggy on to the internet period. Copying is part of how computers work, there is no way around it and the sooner everyone understands that, the better.

Okay, under the law, if you write "this is copyrighted, it's MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY" that asserts ownership.

However, if you fear that your ip will be infringed upon, you MUST MUST MUST register your music with the Library of Congress and get a legal copyright. If you don't get a government license of copyright, proving ownership of ip and collecting royalties and dues can become a very messy process, especially because of CCL3 (creative common license, v. 3).

I just skimmed the thread, but there's another thing that can be a problem. If you actually get music published through a commercial publisher, they are going to want the rights to your music to make sure you don't publish it elsewhere. In this case, you have the choice of signing away your ownership of IP and hoping the publishing company doesn't screw you, or giving the publishing company conditional use of your IP and hoping they still publish and promote you.

In my very humble opinion, unless you are currently composing for a living (as in, this is how you pay your bills), you should release everything you make under the CCL and apply for a copyright license on music you currently plan to either publish or use commercially. Since very few people here are performed with regularity (other than by friends), CCL'ing your work encourages your performance, thereby growing your name as a composer, and your license of copyright is a legally enforceable record to collect royalties on performances and reproductions.

If you're at this point, you should probably belong to ASCAP, SCI, or a similar organization - they will do legal consult for you and enforce royalty collection.

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And

Copyright registration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Though that's for US-people only. Each country has its own laws even if they conform to the Berne Convention.