“If I play this song in public and it’s not copyrighted, isn’t there a chance someone will steal it”?

When working with less experienced writers. this is one of the most common questions/concerns I hear. 

I encourage songwriters to register their copyright (which, by the way, already exists as soon as your creation is ‘fixed in any tangible form’, such as a piece of paper, a recording, etc… What you do with the Copyright Office is register that copyright, which then gives you legal protections – see url below).

But in decades of working and with, playing, and producing hundreds of songwriters in the music world of New York City, as well as writing, performing, and recording many songs of my own, I’ve never seen anyone have this problem. That is, play their song in public, live or recorded, and have one of the listeners rush home, copy the song, and then make money from it. I’m sure this has happened, but I’ve still never seen or heard of it.

I’m not promising or guaranteeing anything here; just passing on my experience.

If you’re a songwriter playing your song in public, getting it stolen is probably one of the last things you need to worry about.

Getting someone to hear it through the clutter, pay attention to it, buy it, cover it, pass it on to a friend… getting people to listen!… These are, imho, far more worthy of the expenditure of a songwriter’s supply of anxiety and worry than concerns that your song will be stolen.

Copyright your song, by all means. But if you haven’t done that yet, and you get an opportunity to play your song for someone… anyone – my suggestion is… do it.

ps  I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

http://www.copyright.gov/forms/

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