ScamAlert™!!!
MusicBizAdvice.com wants you and your money to be safe while you pursue your music
industry career! Following are some of the scams that are making the rounds of the music
industry...
Scam: Copyright Hijack
You’re playing a live show at an outdoor venue,
and someone videotapes the show. You’re flattered. Later, you go to file copyrights
on songs you performed at the show, only to discover they’re registered under the
name of someone you’ve never heard of.
This scam usually happens at outdoor venues like local
festivals, fairs, outdoor malls, and amusement parks—venues where people might
"just happen" to have their video camera handy. The scammer videotapes your
performance, separates the audio portion of songs with hit potential, puts them on a
cassette, and registers the copyright as his own. Some scammers then contact you and offer
to sell back ownership of your songs for a hefty price. Other, well-connected scammers
sometimes succeed in getting them recorded by someone else and start earning royalties.
The Internet makes this scam even easier; now all a
scammer has to do is download the song from your website.
FACT: If you didn’t register the
copyrights for your songs with the US Copyright Office before performing them in public
and someone else grabs them and submits them as their own, there’s very little, if
anything, you can do. In order for an infringement case to go to court, the songs must
have been registered with the US Copyright Office.
FACT: A "poor man’s"
copyright—mailing a copy of the songs to yourself and leaving the envelope
sealed—is not considered legitimate proof of copyright ownership. The courts will not
even hear the case unless you’ve registered the songs with the US Copyright Office.
FACT: One of our editors found out about
this scam from well-connected person in the music industry who admitted doing it as a
hobby. He’s one of the ones who offer to sell back the songs to the writers for a
hefty price. (Yes, we think he’s scum, too.)
BOTTOM LINE: Never, never, never perform
a song in public or put a song on your website until you’ve registered the copyright
with the US Copyright Office.
More scams
Know of a music or entertainment
industry scam? Tell us about it. Send the details to
talktombadc@aol.com
with "SCAM ALERT" in the subject line. Include the company's name, web address,
and contact information, along with a brief description of the scam. We'll
post as many as possible to keep it from happening to someone else. All submissions are confidential.
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