Copyright

If it is an original work (100%) Yes.
The publication is a source but I do not think sufficiently robust.

"Having music copyrighted" isn't really a thing. It was until the 1980's or so, but the way copyright law works in virtually all countries, you own the copyright in your music the moment you write it down (or record it, or otherwise fix it in tangible form, to use the language from US law). You are encouraged to include a copyright message on your music if you wish your ownership of the copyright to be made explicit. But you don't need to do anything else.

In some countries, there is an optional "registration" of your copyright you can do if you like, that can provide some additional benefits in certain cases. Kind of like sending in the registration / warranty card on that new TV you just bought., You own the TV, the warranty is good regardless of whether you send the card in, but some companies may offer additional benefits if you send it in. Feel free to consult a lawyer for your particular country to see if the additional benefits seem worthwhile to you or not. But again, you own the copyright already.

I'm no expert. A lot of people put their stuff out without the formalities of copyright. Their argument is that they have the original document and can show that in a copyright claim. I think that is not the best option because it puts you, the copyright holder, on the defensive.

For example, if someone else were to copyright a piece that you wrote and put on the Internet, YOU would have to prove that you owned the copyright, which means that YOU would have to take an action, hire lawyers and trouble yourself with proving that you owned the work. You would probably win if you had the original proof of publication on this site or some other like youtube. However, if you register your copyright with the Copyright Office, then you will probably never have to do anything but sit back in you armchair and collect royalties. If someone else were to say "Hey I wrote your songs" then THEY would have to act, hire lawyers, go to court and THEY would have to prove that they owned your works.

See the difference? In either case, you would probably win in court with documentation of your publication dates. But why not spend the 30 bucks and copyright a whole batch of songs and then do what you want with your works free of a troubled mind? Let THEM worry about fighting it out in court.

There is one technique that has been used in Canada. You finish the score, record it (doesn't have to be studio grade), place both the sheet music and recording in a sealed envelope, and then send it to yourself by registered mail, which has a date and time stamp. When it arrives, you sign for it and immediately place it in a safe deposit box along with the mail receipt, unopened.

When the time comes that you feel your work has been "stolen" you schedule a meeting with a court judge. He or she opens the envelope and verifies that it is indeed your work. It is now a court record that "Song A" was written by you on a certain date.

Likely, some clever lawyer has found a skate around for that method, however, it has been used successfully in the past. Better than doing nothing, especially if your song goes viral.

Correct me if I'm wrong - wasn't "White Christmas" written by Irving Berlin in about 10 minutes? He sang it to Bing Crosby from a phone booth, who initially didn't like it and refused to record it. It is the number one selling Christmas tune of all time and still resides in the Crosby estate. What if it had never been copyrighted :)? Again, I'm not sure of this story's facts but it is what I heard.

I'm going to change what I said above. It is more than likely that such methods as getting verification other than through the Copyright Office would fail or be so time consuming and difficult and expensive as to make it not worth the time, energy and inconvenience to pursue. So, though I said that the method suggested would probably work, I now realized that we greatly discount the trouble a copyright case can be. Especially when the other side is holding proof of registration.

The question of copyright is an ongoing discussion here. I noticed that it came up in the first project thread I posted here (the Schoenberg transcription.) I am wondering how qualified people are to speak about copyright issues? Has anyone here ever filed a copyright? It would be useful to know who are the people who have knowledge of these matters, because I notice that all too often, up pops somebody who imagines that a court case would proceed all too simplistically.

It seems to me that the common notions about copyright claims and court decisions are purely imaginary. That you can make an appointment with a court judge and come in with a time stamped envelope containing your material and that this will magically clear up your copyright claim. Such imagined reasoning is preposterous. We need to realize that a court proceeding to reclaim stolen property is likely to a horrendous nightmare. Suppose that someone stole your copyright. The first and last thing that a judge is going to ask is who owns the copyright. If you do not have the copyright then I can't imagine a judge transferring the ownership back to you. The reasoning of most judges (not all) would probably be "If you had composed this work, you would have registered it." Don't expect any sympathy.

The idea of doing anything other than properly filing your work with the Copyright Office is inviting trouble. I know someone who sells their music on CD and says they would go to court with the CD and that would prove that they had written it before the registration date of any copyright. This is surely doubtful. It is like buying furniture for your apartment and keeping the receipts and then reasoning that you can now leave your apartment door unlocked because if your furniture gets stolen you can simply make an appointment with the judge and he or she will return your furniture to you.

These lines of reasoning are poor. Putting your work into an envelope is a good idea, and putting a stamp on it is good to, and addressing the envelope is a good idea, but make that address to the U.S. Copyright Office.

People who recommend other methods don't seem to understand that if a case should ever be called to court the person who stole your songs is likely to have more money than you and they will be the plaintiff in the case. The burden will be upon you to prove that you owned the furniture in your apartment before it was stolen. If you have the copyright then the burden will be upon the other side. And I am talking BURDEN because if you live in Texas and the plaintiff lives in New York, you will have to travel or communicate long distance with that court. The burden will be upon you and it can be a nightmare to navigate the federal court system and the Copyright system. You could be bogged down in proceedings for years or even decades.

If you are a novice to copyright and are seriously thinking of copyrighting, I recommend that you subscribe to a news feed on "copyright" and follow some of the classic copyright cases to learn what can happen. You should be aware of Paul McCartney's loss of his copyright in 1969, and again to Michael Jackson in the 1980's (a story that is current again as McCartney is once again attempting to reclaim his songs) Then there are the periodic cases involving individual songs. Stairway to Heaven was just recently challenged last year.

You should study the catalogs of your favorite artists and learn how much is stolen when an artist is beginning. Dylan is classic. Not only did he steal the music for God on our Side, Hard Times in New York Town was derived from another song called Penny's Farm. This Land by Woody Guthrie was derived from a song by the Carter Family - When the World's on Fire. John Lennon lost the copyright to Come Together because he lifted the one line about "here come old flattop" from a Chuck Berry song - You Can't Catch Me. The two songs are as different as night and day and he lost to Chuck. George Harrison was sued for a violation when he wrote song called "My Sweet Lord" and the melody is exactly like "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons. Led Zeppelin stole Killing Floor from Howlin' Wolf. Most of their first two albums contain about 50% ripoffs. (That's a typical ratio in the early catalogs of the more prolific and renouned artist) Killing Floor was Wolf's sawn song and he eventually got them to settle up for a cool million dollars. The ripoff was so obvious. And I am talking about artists who have international recognision for their "originality!" A lot of questions arise. How did Lennon get away with using the trademark name "Coca Cola" in Come Together. Why is Come Together still listed as a Lennon/McCartney song?

You should also study music theory so that you are transcribing your music correctly. Music publishers and publishing lawyers can easily prove that your song does not have an original melody or words. Imagine a blank music staff and put your chords on the bass clef. If you write your melody one note to each chord upon the treble clef, a lawyer could claim that your melody is part of the chord progression and therefore is not a melody. A melody implies a distinct rhythm apart from the harmony. How many people write a chord progression and just sing the top voice of the chords? Is that a melody? The Ramones come to mind. They actually did have melodies written above very straignt chord progressions.

A chord progression is not covered by copyright. In music theory we learn about how indistinct the lines are between melody, harmony and rhyhm. You should know these things. What is a melody in the digital age? if you are singing all of your melody with a recorded intonation of A440, what happens when I play you melody on a synth or a piano and then warp the intonation - so that the perfect fifth is only a few cents off? "Your honor, my client is singing the note A at 441 hertz!" Digital leaves plenty of wiggle room to wiggle in and out of copyrights.

If you can not copyright a title, chord progression or rhythm - what do rap and hip hop artists actually compose and copyright?

The short of it is this - copyright means filling out those pertinent applications and getting them into the office. You can open an online account as easily as opening a YouTube account. You can upload your songs as easily to the Copyright Office as you can to YouTube. You can mail an application to the Copyright office as easily as you can mail your tape to yourself. The fees are remarkably low. You can accumulate a folder of finished ideas and send them all in together with one small fee. Do this periodically, every year or few months or few weeks. Every time you pay a fee, they give you something like 24 or 48 hours to upload. A lot can be uploaded in that time, if it's prepared.

Publishers don't just file these simple forms and low fees. They also work to lock up a copyright from all angles as more and more artists reference their artists works. So you can start out with filing an Authorship copyright. After you get to going, you may want to file two forms with each batch of uploads. An Authorship copyright and a Mechanical copyright. That gives extra protection.

P.S. A few extras:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/songs-on-trial-10-landmark-musi…

Does this lyric sound familiar?
You Need Love by Willie Dixon

You've got yearnin' and I got burnin'
Baby you look so sweet and cunning
Baby way down inside, woman you need love
Woman you need love, you've got to have some love
I'm gonna give you some love, I know you need love
You just gotta have love, you make me feel so good
You make me feel all right, you're so nice, you're so nice
You're frettin', and I'm petting
A lot of good things you ain't getting
Baby, way down inside, you need love
You need to be hugged and squeezed real tight,
by the light of the moon on some summer night
You need love and kissing too,
all these things are good for you
I ain't foolin' you need schoolin'
Baby you know you need coolin'
Baby, way down inside, woman you need love

This is an infringement mainly because of three words "way down inside" and another three words "you need love" and "you need coolin'" That is the whole idea behind Whole Lotta Love and it's a ripoff. Those are also the most original lines in the song. YET, despite the many ripoffs, Led Zeppelin is thought of as one of the most original bands of all time. Go figure. Dylan too. Same things.

How can that be? They (Led Zep, Dylam, etc.) stole copyrights and when court came due, they had the cash to pay for lawyers with the expertise to navigate the Muddy Waters! OOPS!