The Ghost of E. P. Christy
Most amateur songwriters have one fear (or hope) in common: that somebody is going to steal their songs and make a ton of money with them. The fact that most legitimate infringement cases involve songs that have already been hits doesn’t seem to matter - writers fear the theft of their work; the ghost of E. P. Christy haunts them.
E. P. Christy created on of the most successful minstrel shows, Christy’s Original Virginia Minstrels, in the mid-Nineteenth Century in America. He was also known as the man who made Stephen Foster really famous, having made a deal at one point to be the exclusive outlet for Foster’s tunes. He also bought the right to be known as the author of Foster’s “Old Folks At Home,” (better known as the “S’wanee River”), which Foster forever after regretted.
Even though Foster benefited from the connection to Christy’s Minstrels, the ‘folk wisdom’ about the arrangement was that Christy stole Foster’s tunes, particularly “Old Folks At Home.” As the law at the time essentially allowed whomever got to a courthouse and registered a song first to own the song - as well as allowing a writer to sell his authorship, something that is not now legal - songwriters rightfully feared that dishonorable people would snatch their work and register it.
Throughout the 19th Century and well into the 20th, infringement was a serious problem, despite the changes in copyright law in 1909, which was the first to directly address the question of ownership of composed music. Musicians generally only made money through performance, unless they made deals with book and sheet music publishers as composers. (For a timeline about copyright law in the U.S., go to www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/timeline.html)
Throughout most of the 20th Century, certain record companies and publishers made a practice of defrauding composers, particularly African-Americans, usually through deceitful contracts, though occasionally through outright theft. With the 1976 revision, however, it became much easier - if any legal action can ever be considered ‘easy’ - to take an action for infringement, as the copyright protection was extended to the moment that the song was first put into permanent form: the pen was lifted from the page, the ‘Stop’ button was pressed on the recording device. The writer could take an action for infringement even if the song was not registered with the Copyright Office at the time of the infringement, although registration was required to file the action.
[It is necessary to note here that the above and what follows does not constitute legal advice; I am not a lawyer, either, and not qualified to offer legal advice. I can say that the best rule of thumb to follow as a writer is to document, document, document. Put your copyright notice (Copyright 2006 by John Doe or © 2006 by John Doe) on every copy of your song, whether that is only the lyrics or a demo recording. ]
There have been additional revisions to the Copyright Law since 1976, mostly to extend the length of ownership of copyright. (That one is also to the benefit of the corporations who own various intellectual properties such as the Disney Corporation’s ownership of Mickey Mouse.)
Registration of copyright with the Library of Congress Copyright Office is not required until the song is “published,” i.e., put into fixed form for sale, as in a CD or sheet music (rare though that is). The songwriter can enter the song into contests, ‘pitch’ it to publishers and artists and/or perform the song in public without fear of losing the rights to the song - or the right to sue the heck out of someone who might actually try to steal your song.
So banish the ghost of E. P. Christy and get to writing.