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How do I register my song?
Registration is quick and easy. It is as simple as sending an email. When you click on the registration links on this website, or click here, you will be taken to the submissions page.

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Why register with SongCopyright.org? What are the advantages?
SongCopyright.org is the world's leading independent music copyright service and the first choice of thousands of professional publishers, organizations, songwriters, composers and lyricists. It has an impressive background with excellent contacts within the music industry. It is administered by The Song Copyright Organization and was formed in close consultation with music industry bodies and experts including the Music Aid Organization and the Music Aid Academy, the World Music Foundation and The International Song Copyright Agency (ISCA). Most importantly, if your work is involved in any legal case of copyright ownership dispute, SongCopyright.org will provide a secure and certified copy of your work directly to the lawyers involved, anywhere in the world in accordance with our Terms and Conditions. It is also very important to note that registration at SongCopyright.org is for life. This means that, unlike most other copyright services, there is no need to pay again for renewal at a later date and you will never be asked for additional fees.

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Who registers their work at SongCopyright.org?
Songwriters who benefit from copyright protection at SongCopyright.org range from unknown beginners to Gold and Platinum Album Award winners. We represent and protect writers from most countries in the world including the USA and Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, all the European countries, South America, and a growing number of Asian and African countries.

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How can I show that my work is registered at SongCopyright.org?
You should use the standard international copyright symbol © on all your work also write "SongCopyright.org" or "The Song Copyright Organization" or "SCO Registered" or something similar. If your work is online we suggest that you link to www.songcopyright.org so that people can instantly check your registration for themselves.

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I already have a five year copyright registration. How can I extend this to a Lifetime Registration?
We no longer offer the old five year registration plan and every five year registration has now been automatically extended to a Lifetime Registration completely free of charge. If you had one of the old five year plans there is no need to contact us as we have already taken care of this for you. Your previous registration is now officially a Lifetime Registration.

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What is Song Copyright exactly?
The international laws relating to song copyright state that your songs are your creative work and your property. This legal principle of ownership means that the writer controls and owns all rights relating to the use and reproduction of the song - including the right to sell or assign the copyright and ownership to another individual or company. This is the law under international legal agreements and it is the basic principle of copyright that is accepted throughout the world. Most countries have formalised the principles of copyright outlined above by signing up to an international agreement known as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. It was first adopted in 1886 as an agreement to honour the rights of all authors who are nationals of countries that are party to the convention. The current version of the convention is the Paris Act of 1971. The convention is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). A search on the internet will show a number of sites with up to date lists of the countries that have signed. This international agreeement provides legal protection to the authors of original works where these works have been presented in a tangible, fixed and physical form of expression.This agreement makes it very clear that as soon as your song, music or lyrics are written down, or recorded as a sound recording, they are automatically copyrighted and the writer(s) has/have full legal ownership. This is a very important point. It is not enough to compose a song in your head and keep it in your memory - it must also exist in a physical and tangible form, a form that others can see or hear, for the copyright rules to apply. So under the Berne Convention you officially and legally own the copyright in your work as soon as you express it in a tangible and verifiable form. This protection applies to both published and unpublished works.

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Are song titles copyright protected?
No. Song titles are not protected under copyright law. Anyone and everyone is free to write and publish a song with the title "Yesterday" or "Imagine" or "My Way" for example. There are many thousands of different songs that share exactly the same titles.

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Why should I register my song if I own the copyright anyway?
Under the Berne Convention there is no legal requirement to register your work with any official body as your ownership is automatic. But if you don't register this may cause problems if someone copies your song and tries to pass it off as their own. Unfortunately this can happen to any composer or songwriter at any time and the risks today, with widespread access to music on the internet and mobile devices, are greater than ever before. If this happens to you it will be necessary to prove that you wrote the work in question and this may be difficult if the song was not registered. If someone hears your song on the internet or reads the lyrics on a website, or your neighbour overhears you composing it in your home, or your band plays it at gig, or you enter it in a competition, someone could easily decide to copy it and pass it off as their own composition. Copyright theft happens every day and copyright registration may provide the insurance that you need to help you protect your valuable creative work and enforce your legal rights.

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Do you offer any other services?
Yes. We offer a number of specialist services that are only available to music industry bodies and organizations. But these services are not available to the general public. The lifetime song registration service is the only service that is currently available to individual songwriters and the public.

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I have a question that is not answered above. Can I contact you about this?
Yes. You can email us at 2009@songcopyright.org if you have any further questions about our services that are not answered above, and we will be pleased to deal with your query. You should also read the Terms and Conditions before making your application for registration and you may find your question answered there.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER YOUR SONG

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