to those who have web sites with their beats on it

[pharaoh tay]

i'm thinking about making a web site to post my beats on but my only concern is the chance my beats getting jacked. what's the best way to protect your beats from getting swindled off the web site? i have the copyrights... do i need to put a voice over it? or is it just something i have to deal with? is it even a good idea to have a web site with beats on them?

thanks for the advice.

 

[3VID3NC3]

Yea put a voice over it, make it just a sample and if you can, make it un-downloadable...peep the link in my sig if you wanna see what I did with mine..

 

[Nonstop]

if you have the official government copyrights to em then it doesnt matter.. no one can really steal your shit and do much wit it if you have it copywriten

 

[Hollywood]

answer me this how do you get a beat copyrighted I was told by entertainment attorneys that getting a beat copyrighted is almost impossible unless it has a unique sound like deep purple smoke on the water. I heard ya gotta put vocals on it or something on it to prove it was a orginal compostion. If dude is wrong let me see the evidence someone put they paperwork up put your copyright regerstration numbers maybe that'll help and make muthafuccas no you legit. Alot of people tell me its damn near hard to get a beat copywritten if ya got it dont worry about it unless you aint got the funds to battle in court.

 

[HERESY]

^^^^ The lawyer or whoever you spoke with is an idiot and should be reported. You have a "copyright" as soon as the music is in fixed/tangible form. An example of this is a cd, dat, tape or mini disk.


What you want to do is REGISTER the copyright with the U.S. copyrights office using form s.r. and it costs $30 to register your work.


Hit this link and follow the steps. You can find teh S.R. form in pdf format on the site:


http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html

 

[Hollywood]

One of my boys got at me about this I've been walking around this whole time wit wrong info good looking though Heresy..

I just copyrighted my whole shit it seems now I need to get the beats that I havent laid vocals to copywritten.

 

[HERESY]

as soon as you have them in fixed form (as I mentioned before) they have copyrights. You want to REGISTER the copyright.


:hgk:

just put your beats on a cd mail it in with your 30 bucks and the S.R. form and you'll be covered.

 

[Jae iLL]

Aight so do you hafta register instrumentals separate from vocals??? OR like, let's say I got my unique instrumentals and put vocals over em and then send in a finsihed product.. can I register that instead of registering the vocals and then the instrumentals etc etc???

Basically, I'm saying can i just send in the FINAL copy so I don't gotta keep payin 30 dollars lol.

 

[Foul Mouth]

i think you can send in as much material as you want for $30.one song for $30 or 5 for $30,as long as its at one time.meaning you can get the beat copywritten and the song (vocals) and/or the record.maybe im wrong?

 

[Sick Wid It]

You can submit as much as will fit on the media you're sending in. HOWEVER, you should only submit FINAL VERSIONS containing all the different elements of the beat. Which means for example, if you have a beat that only has changes up until the 1st chorus and then repeats, you only need to submit a recording of that beat up until the 1st chorus. To put it another way, if your beat is structured like this:

Different changes:
1-intro part
2-verse part
3-chorus part

and the beat is arranged say 1-2-3-2-3-2-3-fade out, you only need to submit however long is it for 1-2-3..

You can register instrumentals only, lyrics only, or completed songs. If you register an instrumental and record lyrics over it later, you'll need to re-register the work as an entire song.

To answer the original question.. First of all, there is no way to allow people to listen to your beats over the internet but prevent them from downloading local copies. If you're going to post your beats on the internet, I'd recommend tagging them with vocal clips. People are less likely to rip your beats and use them when there's vocals scattered all over it. Also, there's no way to stop someone from recreating your beats. I wouldn't worry about it too much because the chances of someone stealing your music and actually making money off it are really REALLY slim.

Just register all your stuff and hope that if someone ever does steal your shit, they make a million dollars off it so you can file a lawsuit and actually collect payment.

 

[Sick Wid It]

Nowadays, it's easier to prove that you were the creator of music without registering it. For example, if you make a beat on your computer, chances are, your computer has an internal clock that remembers when you made it. Also, if you publish it at any point by putting it on soundclick or myspace or wherever, those websites will probably have some record showing that they published your music. Then, if someone puts out something that they stole from you, they would have to show proof that they created it before you did.

Wrong. In court those scenarios prove nothing. Computer-based information can be easily altered and posting beats on a website doesn't satisfy proof-of-ownership.

I've had to deal with this in court and I will tell you right now, the best way to prove you are the creator of a piece of work is by having the 'original masters'. By 'original masters' I mean the original sequences, song arrangement, individual sounds & samples, etc. used to create the work. If someone steals your beat off a website, they obviously wouldn't have any of that.

If two guys with the same beat go to court and only one of them has each element completely separated and split out, guess who wins?

 

[Mr. Samos]

^ There is one way, get your site designed in flash, and have your production played through the flash. It would be easy to update. They have no chance of accessing the music unless they basically hack into your server and download it, and what rapper has anyone heard of that hacks? lol It just won't happen, this protects your music and it makes it enjoyable without any annoying vocal tags.

 

[Sick Wid It]

^ There is one way, get your site designed in flash, and have your production played through the flash. It would be easy to update. They have no chance of accessing the music unless they basically hack into your server and download it, and what rapper has anyone heard of that hacks? lol It just won't happen, this protects your music and it makes it enjoyable without any annoying vocal tags.

Wrong. I've already said that "there is no way to allow people to listen to your beats over the internet but prevent them from downloading local copies". It doesn't matter if you use streaming audio, flash, whatever else.

Flash stuff is stored in .swf files that your computer downloads whenevers you watch a flash presentation, and tons of software that lets you save everything out of .swf files. You can either copy this file out of your 'temporary internet files' folder or just copy the address and choose save instead of open.

I've been through this. It's not possible to put your music on the internet and make it un-copyable. Invent a way to do it and you'll become rich.