How do artists get their works copyrighted?

Question

I see artists on ebay saying the work is copy righted . They come out with new art every day. Are they just saying that or did they get a copy right that fast?

Answer 1

When they say copyright, what they most likely mean is that they sent it to themselves via government postal agency.  I don't know where you're from, but I'm pretty sure this applies to most countries around the Globe, government postal agencies don't just handle mail.  They're also GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.  So if you have a sealed document with a date on it and the stamp of a government agency, and that document says that, i.e. such and such songs are yours with these lyrics and this music, then ...that's it.

In other words, if you send it to yourself and don't open it, you have the post date on it, which proves that they've been yours for a certain period of time, and it has the officiality (I don't think that's even a word :-/) of a government official (in this case the postal service).

Hope that helped a wee bit.  I'm into music, and I asked a good friend who's a lawyer about the easierst, fastest and cheapest way to copyright my material, and she told me of the above method.

Cheers.

Answer 2

I'm not going to even try to deal with international copyright laws here--and note that I'm not an attorney, but I have been closely involved in performing arts and media.

In the USA, since 1978, a work is automatically copyrighted at the moment that its creator releases it to the public in any format.  You don't have to mail the thing to yourself, you just need to be able to document somehow when you created it and when it first was appreciated by anyone else.

Now, the protections you enjoy under such automatic copyright are limited.  To ensure the full range of protections, the artist needs to register the work with the US Copyright Office--a process that requires filling out paperwork in legalese and paying a modest fee.