REGISTERING YOUR SONGS WITH THE US COPYRIGHT OFFICE ONLINE

This is not legal advice.
You can follow along as I register 10 unpublished works that I composed.
This is where you can go to file an application to register your works.
www.copyright.gov/registration/
What you see in this video episode is what I did, but people may have differing needs.
0:00 Intro and disclaimers
2:20 Watch the other video episode first
3:24 Three tips
4:40 A preview of the major steps with tips
8:22 A preview of the process with tips
16:43 My online session
30:50 Closing

[@odmusicman]

Dear Jeff, I know this took meticulous time and effort and is extremely appreciated. I am fortunate that one of my clients is a top copywrite attorney in in the US. I sent him this and he said he couldn't recall anyone providing this kind of patient instructions in this kind of detail. You are becoming a valued resource in the music community sir.

[@JeffreyScottPetro]

Thank you, I appreciate your comment.

[@TheTMontgomery]

Thank you once again.I have never seen this before Maybe someone like Rick Beato May have done something like this but I am so pleased to receive this information.Couple questions if I had performed one of my songs in an event many years ago but never did an official copyright can I do this as an unpublished work?Also if my works span many years but have never been copyrighted do I just use the the date of filing for my works.Finally at least for now can you copyright partial songs eg recordings of a single verse and chorus and add the other verses later or just in performance . Best wishes and thanks once again.

[@JeffreyScottPetro]

Hello: I want to help, but I have to be careful what I tell you, so it is not construed as legal advice. Q1. Regarding the song you performed and would now like to copyright. Type this "how does the us copyright office define published work" into GOOGLE. The first answer at the top should help you. Q2. The episode talks about this at 21:54. If you have multiple works that span many years, use the date of the most recent work. Q3. This would border on legal advice. I'll tell you this: I've written part of a song, come back to it later and written a little more, and eventually I finished it. The process may have taken months or years. I never felt a need to copyright it as I finished portions of it. When I was done, I registered it. What you do in this regard is up to you- sorry I can't be more specific.

[@TheTMontgomery]

One more question if you have songs with lyrics and chord symbols but have not done a recording can these pages be copyrighted ?

[@JeffreyScottPetro]

Once again, this borders on legal advice. What I can say is: Anyone can file for protection of written works, such as poems, novels, and plays. Chord symbols are generally immaterial. There are some great books out there on copyright. If you want more than I can offer, you can probably find a good book on Amazon. NOLO Press often has books for non-lawyers that are easy to understand.