Propellerhead - Automatic beat copyright?

[afriquedeluxe]

im wonderin, if i made a beat in reason, didnt copyright it and sum1 big robbed it and dey sold lots of copies n dat. den i took em 2 court, but note, i neva copyrighted da beat but i hav da reason file (wit all da matrixes and sequenced trcks) whereas da guy dat robbed it only has da wav, but copyrighted da beat in his name afta robbin it. am wonderin how wud dis stand up in da court of law?

 

[Fade]

I don't know exactly what would happen, but I do know that once you create something it's automatically yours. Even if you didn't copyright it, it's still yours. And by having a Reason file, it has a time-stamp in the file so I'm guessing that would hold up in court.

But, if the person that jacked you copyrighted the beat then they might have something on you there, but still....

Anyone have anything else to add to this?

 

[bigdmakintrax]

I always wondered about that and i am sort of wondering why the copyright laws haven't come into play when it comes to being able to prove....1 you have the multitracks that were used in the mixdown....and you have some file with all of the original midis and samples used......I don't understand why it is so hard to prove who made the track.....if you got the track and the software file then how come you can't somehow use that.....but the computer time stamping I also thought about that but that is able to be altered simply on a system by changing the date so when you either recreate the file or whatever you can phreak the date....so it's not as reliable......

 

[MIKELABZ]

i think it would just be safer to 1. copyright the beats before u share them 2. be careful who u share your tracks with (no jokers allowed).

L-Rock

 

[nas2000xl]

Originally posted by Fade
I do know that once you create something it's automatically yours. Even if you didn't copyright it, it's still yours.

but you still have to show burden of proof that you did create it cause for something like this word of mouth just don`t get it. even you have all the original files, midi, ect. cause if you look at it the theiving party could say you stole it from them as well and come up with those same midi files, reason time stamp, ect. your time stamp could be dated before theirs, but the can say , reason for that is my computer crashed and i had to regenerate the beat at a later date. and the battle goes on. the only real and concrete proof that you can have is that copyright. before you let anyone get a hold of your beats, get them copyrighted first. and the best way to do this is to send a check with your material. once that check posts make a copy of it and put it up until you get your copyright certificate.

thats what i think anyway. anyone else want to elaborate.

 

[Ominous]

I found this on their website...

I don't think posting it to the site is an official copyright but I think it can be used as proof of copyright above someone else's claim.

 

[God]

UK laws are different than US laws. I believe that afriquedeluxe, if he has a problem, should check it out with somebody in his country that understands the law in that respect. It is different to analyse the situation from a different national legal standpoint.

Sincerely,
God

 

[afriquedeluxe]

thnx peeps 4 ur comments. god da scenario is fictious, i jus made it up so am not really in any trouble, lol but wat do u think wud b da case if it was in U.S?

 

[MIKELABZ]

to be safe. i firmly beleive in order for one to own the beat straight up without any hassles is to just spend the extra cash on a copyright form and send that in... just pile on numerous tracks on a CD in data form and u can fit about 3 CD's werth of audio tracks on one CD without spending the money... 3 for 1... cant beat that...

L-Rock

 

[God]

LavRock:

You bring about an interesting circumstance, however, most individuals, even after they have secured a copyright with the Library of Congress, can not protect themselves.

Litigation may be an expensive option. Furthermore, a well protected defendant in a copyright infringement case will easily circumvent your case. It's been done many a time, and will still be done.

Sincerely,
God

 

[MIKELABZ]

explain more. how can a litigation (lawsuit) take my copyrighted tracks away from me? its to my understanding that once a CD is under copyright it becomes urs to do as u please with it... and i can see how a defendant with money could put off or avoid the case but if i have that track copyrighted they have to go thru me to get the actual rights to the track... in other werds im pretty sure i have to be represented in one form or fashion in the court of law meaning nobody can throw my case out until there has been a hearing on both sides... having those copyright documents alone gives me the edge i need to compete with the big boys with the baller money and it makes me the sole proprietor of those particular tracks until otherwise stated in the courtroom...but regardless having those forms are way better then doing the poor man's copyright method anyday...

L-Rock

 

[DJFANTOM]

Originally posted by God
LavRock:

You bring about an interesting circumstance, however, most individuals, even after they have secured a copyright with the Library of Congress, can not protect themselves.

Litigation may be an expensive option. Furthermore, a well protected defendant in a copyright infringement case will easily circumvent your case. It's been done many a time, and will still be done.

Sincerely,
God

Yeah gawd ( you don't mind I call you gawd do you cause I don't call any man god, no disrespect)

I was thinking bout that. So do copy right realy don't protect you do it.
Cause if a major steals ya stuff you can't afford to battle them in court so you lose.
I do belive in getting a copyright tho. Especialy when you participate in forum battles and show cases. And post material online. Cause any unknown bed room producer can steal ya stuff .

Even wit a copy right tho. Some lil cornball wannabe could be bumping ya beat right now to his friends having them believe he made it.

Like many of us feel dat if we sample stuff we not on amajor level dat companys would come after us. Well same thing if some one steal our stuff. We will never know. (Unless they making major noise)


Dats y its always a good idea to copyright ya stuff. And put voice samples/drops throughout. Especialy on any parts of the beat dat someone can quick chop and loop.

 

[chris]

I would say the best thing for you to do is find the biter who stole it and beat him with a crowbar, or any other hard object. Make'em get his jaw wired shut. He wont be bitin nuthin for a long time. P.S I just joined this web site today and im feelin it. Its definitly the best site ive seen.


"i never went to high school i went to school high." reconize

 

[blaqcyde]

i think it only costs like 30 bucks to copyright a cd full of songs.

 

[dacalion]

Ok check this out...think of a winning lottery ticket. It doesn't matter who bought the ticket...only 2 things are required...1.) the ticket is redeemable to it's bearer and 2.) the back of the ticket must be completed by the bearer of the ticket...thats it.

Now lets translate that into the ownership of a beat. It doesn't matter who made the beat, all that matters is 1.) who has ownership of the copyright and 2.) the copyright (being a legal document) must have the owners name and a description of whats being copyrighted.

Haven't you guys seen that commercial where the guy is crying about being the orignal guy that thought of "The Clapper" but since he didn't have a PATENT on the idea, he didn't get one penny for it?

dac

 

[luxx]

I dont know 2 much about copyrights, but a far as reason go's I think it would be fairly easy to prove u made a beat. I mean there is no way for "the jacker" to recreate your reason setup especially if your using your own samples, and or tweaked the presets on synthes and stuff. The only way they could get it off the internet is in .wav or mp3 format, and u would have all the original reason files and paths to the samples u used. Even if they owned reason, and knew u created it in reason there is no way they could recreate the exact track. And as far as haveing money to fight it in court, if it was a major label that stole ur shit and made mad money, Im positve u could find a lawyer that would work 4 u no money down, but he would want like 40% of the settlement, or whatever they charge. but 60% of a shitload of money is still a shitload of money.

 

[pirell]

Originally posted by afriquedeluxe
im wonderin, if i made a beat in reason, didnt copyright it and sum1 big robbed it and dey sold lots of copies n dat. den i took em 2 court, but note, i neva copyrighted da beat but i hav da reason file (wit all da matrixes and sequenced trcks) whereas da guy dat robbed it only has da wav, but copyrighted da beat in his name afta robbin it. am wonderin how wud dis stand up in da court of law?

well it woudl depend on who you're standing up against first of all., i have a m8 thats in the US now to face lawyers for rafael saddiq as his beats seemingly found his way onto his album. he has some stuff backed up, so we'll see hwo it goes.

from what u said, you would also have to have some proof that the person u think jacked ur beats has in some way had contact with ur work. if not him..then you'd have to work out a chain of events that eventually led to ur guy getting the beats. bcos, music is never entirely unique, im not messin but the intro and hook for justin timberlake's "cry me a river" sounds exacly the same as a track ive done...infact my friends heard it on radio and made me go get the single.

the song i made is completely destroyed now cos people will say..oh that sounds like JT's song. :headbang: i know i didnt get jacked , btu still its annoying.

you should have ur stuff backed up man, ur a 3x champ u cant be making all these tight beats and not have your shit backed up. £1.50 for registered post. just having the beats in reason aint enough cos it could happen that someone else has the exact same or alsmost the same, afterall ur using the same program as millions of others.

but back to the court, well think of how you can get a lawyer, and think of how a record company can get a lawyer!! for every lawyer you can afford, they will afford 10 better ones. ur best bet is joining the musicians Union, and sending every thing u do everytime to urself by Regst post, also including a note of people and contacts you make.