I've been a music producer for a long time, so I've heard just about every advice from every possible source about how to properly protect your copyright, as well as the minutia of getting your songs into the public domain.

As you might imagine, you need to research all this stuff before you start, so I wanted to address some of the key aspects of this critical and complicated area that nobody really wants to talk about.

Copyrighting should be a breeze

Since the success of the Recording Industry Association of America in convincing the court that songwriting itself is subject to copyright, many people seem to view copyright as a straight forward licensing system that anyone can access.

Nothing could be further from the truth. You need to understand the implications of copyright before you begin.

First, a brief primer: Copyright is a copyright right granted to the author of a work. This means that the copyright owner is entitled to a share of royalties paid for any time period in which the work is displayed, reproduced, distributed, or performed. A copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. You can learn more about copyright and how it works in the US on the US Copyright Office website.

A lot of people wonder why they need to get copyright if they're going to use an existing song. This is why.

An author may also assign the copyright to a corporation, public company, or other legal entity in the United States, such as a publishing company.

The Legal Definition of Work

There are generally three elements that must be met when creating a work that satisfies the requirements for a work to be copyrighted:

The elements are commonly known as the "Three elements" of Copyright Law. The three elements are:

• The act or occurrence in a tangible medium of expression
• The expression or theme of the act or occurrence
• The expression or theme of the expression

The "act or occurrence" is the "creative work" because Frusciante had the technical skill to play guitar. The expression is "the nature or character of the work" because Frusciante had the artistic skill to compose and play it. The "expression or theme of the work" is the "nature of the creation" because it is the guitar that is shown on the album cover.

As discussed in the previous sections, the term "creative work" is often called a "work of art," but a work could be a set of lyrics, a photograph or a

First, some background

I learned the importance of copyrighting your artist name long ago, and not just for musical reasons but also for branding purposes. Not many people can tell you what your artist name is unless you've told them.

Your artist name is the most important thing that will brand your music. Not your music. Not your CD's cover art. Not even your music videos.

Instead, it will be the name of your band: Your artist name

Make a name for yourself

The best thing you can do is create a unique name for yourself so you don't run into copyright issues with other artists or performers.

The industry will work around your music, your image, your videos, etc. But your artist name will be your unique selling point.

It is what people will remember.

So, just in case you haven't gotten the message, it's time to copyright your artist's name.

1. Copyright Yourself

First, you should get yourself a simple and very cheap copyright registration service.

I recommend using LegalZoom. You'll need a credit card, and your first (and possibly only) step should be to click on the "Submit" button at the bottom of this page and fill out the form.

A week later you'll receive your very own copyright registration certificate.

2. Contact YouTube

Once you've got that in hand, all you need to do is contact YouTube about your video.

Show them your new copyright registration certificate and tell them that you're submitting your video for copyright infringement and that they need to take down all copies of your video.

You should receive a response within 24 hours, but it may take up to a few days depending on how much activity they have on.