Forms of Copyright

• It used to be popular to acquire what was referred to as the "poor man's copyright." To do so, you would mail a copy of your recorded song or chord chart and lyric sheet to your own home address. Because the post office would time-stamp the envelope you sent yourself, you had dated proof of possession of a work.
  
  Since 1989, when America joined the Berne Convention, everything you have written down has automatically been granted your copyright. For the majority of people, this renders the poor man's copyright useless, and for professionals who may actually need to prove their copyright in court one day, the poor man's method, because it can be easily faked, won't do the trick.
  
  

Copyright Registration

• Professionals don't need to copyright their work; they need to register their copyright. To do so, visit www.copyright.gov. The cost for registration on a basic form ranges from $35 to $65 depending on the method you use.
  
  Try registering online. You will have to create a log-in name and password to do so, but it is the cheapest, and probably the easiest, method. Once there, all you will have to do is fill in the paperwork.
  
  Another great money-saver is to register an album, or "group of works," rather than a single song. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, "Unpublished collections of two or more musical works can be submitted for registration online with one application and a single fee and a deposit of one complete copy or phono record." For a 12-track album that's $35, rather than the $420 that you would spend to register each song individually.
  
  You can submit your music as almost any file type. You can also submit the written music and lyrics. Or, if you prefer, you can register online and still send in a hard copy of your work by mail.
  
  You will receive your certificate in three to four months. But don't worry--your registration is dated from the day you submit your paperwork.