Copyright/Publish

Hello - According to the copyright law, a work is published if the work is distributed to the public.  However, there is no mention of a song being shared with the public on a ‘social network’ such as SoundClick or MySpace etc.  When songs are available in that format, they are not distributed to the public, though they are available to the public…then, I would imagine that the song is not published…(copies distributed).  Is this accurate?

Thanks!

Cathy

You are self published until you can get someone else to do the job.

MAB

I believe the law reads “...distributed for sale…” and that may be the difference between making it available to the public via social networking or posting here on the 101 and ‘publishing’. Offering it for sale would legally qualify as publishing.

http://www.johnbraheny.com may have some interesting reading on a downloadable pdf.

He has a book you can find on http://www.amazon.com “The Craft and Business of Songwriting.”

http://www.copyright.gov has interesting reading in circulars you can download.

if it’s available to the public via the internet (or whatever) it’s published. Simple as that.