Please help/ Music copyright

[nosha]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
My husband wrote lyrics and performed with a band for about three years he was the original singer, he left the band for personal reasons and now they have a new singer who is using his lyrics... My question is can my husband still use his lyrics and perform the instrumental part differently...

[justalayman]

does the song have a registered copyright and if so, who is credited with the lyrics and who is credited with the music?

[The Occultist]

All parties that are involved in the creation of work all own an equal copyright to the work. Any such copyright owner may do whatever they wish with the work, and cannot prevent anybody else with such a copyright from doing whatever they want with the work. If any profit is made from the work, the profit must be shared amongst all copyright owners of the work.

[nosha]

The band using the lyrics did credit the writer on their demo, but we also copyrighted them the cheap way by certified mail back to us. So you are saying it is equally everybodies in the band and the lyrics can be used again by the writer if he feels?

[justalayman]

Originally Posted by nosha

but we also copyrighted them the cheap way by certified mail back to us. ?

that does nothing. There is only one way to register a copyright and that is to pay the money to the US Copyright office and fill out the proper forms.


The song had a copyright the instant it was created. It is registering it that allows you to make claims against illegal users.