Get Your Monster Name

I added some of my own lyrics to this Fleetwood Mac tune, along with it being my own arrangement...does this mean I should register it with SOCAN as being part owner in the copyright? So, therefore, if someone covered my cover of this tune I should receive royalties as well?

covers
on cover tunes - cdbaby has a pretty straight forward bit on this:
http://cdbaby.net/dd-covers

arrangements
you cannot rearrange a song that is "not in the public domain" and copyright it as your own. you'd want to follow the trail of advice given on http://cdbaby.net/dd-covers and here http://cdbaby.net/dd-faq

i noticed the double negative above. a song in the public domain can be set to a new arrangement and then be copywritten as a protected work.

doppleganger arrangements
no, i don't think dropping a song one octave would count as composing a unique score or arrangement of notes around a song. the way the companies in hymnals and such hold copyrights is by owning arrangements or tunes used under various hymns (it's one of the ways). hyfrydol is the name of one of these pieces - and several arrangements of this are still copyrighted - even though it's in the public domain (has been since 1944 i think).

music is unique
music is a bit more narrow than - soup cans and coke bottles (and logos) when used in a work of art. it used to be that one could not borrow more than 7 notes worth of lyrics directly from another copyrighted song - one note more and it would be illegal.

and i am wrong about the 7 notes:
No freebies
“I sampled only six bars; I thought that as many as eight is free.” That is simply a record industry urban legend. There is no “free zone” when it comes to copying someone else's work. Keep in mind that a great hook in a song could be as short as one measure or even a couple of seconds. If it's identifiable, clear it.
http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_clear/

pretty complicated: http://www.illegal-art.org/audio/historic.html
interesting paper download: www.princeton.edu/culturalpolicy/studentpap/undergrad%20thesis1%20JLind.pdf

publishing and publishers
i do not know what the point of crossing that line is now. i have friends who know much more about this publishing stuff than i do. i think anyone serious about their music in the marketplace might want to know - hire - consult - or something with a publishing agent or publisher - who's job it is to keep up with this stuff and it's changes.

licensing and publishing
and one would want to know about licensing too.
http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp

it seems that issues around sampling have the most info (makes sense): a google search on sampling and copyright

this might just be one of those topics - the more you know - the less you know

peac4d.
amos

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peac4d.
amos

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