ISCA©
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS & INFORMATION
How much does it cost?
The five year registration package is US$30 per song.
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What happens after the five year
registration period?
Registration lapses after five years. However, after five years,
you may decide to register again for a further period. The
choice is yours.
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How do I register my song on
SongCopyright.org with
ISCA?
Registration is quick and easy and 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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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.
Back to topWhy 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
to do if the song was not registered. If someone hears
your song on the internet or
reads the lyrics on 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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What happens when I submit my song?
When you submit your work it is date
stamped by our submissions system and we instantly prepare a
second date stamped copy which is stored
in a separate location. The submission then passes to our
administration department where staff personally check each
submission and add the song to the copyright registration
database. Back-up copies of the database entry are kept and a
third back up copy of the song submission may also made for
extra security. Finally, after full processing and manual
preparation of backups by staff, a Certificate of Copyright
Registration is approved, prepared and issued. The
registration, protection and certificate are dated to the day of
submission. Registrations are added to the online database at
the end of the month following receipt and the public will be
able to check your song details including date of registration,
writer(s), title, and view your Copyright Certificate
online from that time.
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Why register with ISCA?
What are the advantages?
Our special five year
registration service has been developed for songwriters who need
a quick solution which gives protection and peace of mind while
deciding what to do with their work - eg whether to self publish
or seek a professional publisher or register copyright with a
goverment copyright service such as the USA Government Copyright
Office etc. All these options take time and can be expensive
and in the meantime your song is very vulnerable to copyright theft.
This has always been a difficult period for songwriters who are
worried about copyright theft. But registration at SongCopyright.org provides a simple and
inexpensive way to provide instant protection and peace of mind
while considering your options. When people see "ISCA Copyright"
written on your CD, your sheet music, your lyrics or your
website they immediately know that your work is registered with
a specialist organization and that those in the music industry and others can check
your
ownership claim online. The International Song Copyright Agency
has an impressive background with excellent contacts and it was
formed in close consultation with music industry experts under
guidance from the Music Aid Organization and The World Music
Foundation. In the case of any legal copyright ownership dispute
that might arise during your registration ISCA will provide a
secure copy of your work to the
lawyers involved in accordance with our Terms and Conditions.
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Do you offer any other services?
Yes. We offer a number of
specialist services that are only available to industry
bodies such as Music Aid Organization and The World Music
Foundation and others. But these services are not available to the general
public. The five year registration service is the only service
that is currently available to individual songwriters and the public.
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How should I show that my work is registered at ISCA?
You
should use the standard international copyright symbol © on all
your work and also write "ISCA Registered". If your
work is online we suggest that you add the link
www.songcopyright.org
so that people can check your registration online. This will normally be enough to
stop anyone thinking about
copying or stealing your work. The copyright symbol is
not easily available on many keyboards so here are some in
various sizes and fonts that you can copy and paste:
© ©
©
©
© ©
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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
2008@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 our
Terms and
Conditions before making your application for registration
and you may find your question answered there.
