MUSICIANS: How to protect yourself from NFT scammers
Unfortunately, musicians get scammed everyday in the wild world of NFT, crypto and Webn3. Here’s how to prepare, if it happens to you.
A guest post from the Symphonic Blog.
The popularity of NFTs in this industry is no secret, but the NFT game is still in its early stages. That means people are susceptible to scams no matter how much you know. (i.e. the recent HitPiece scam that just blew up last week.) Instances like this are no joke, and our partners over at Cosynd agree. To help you out, they’ve come up with some steps to protect yourself. Here’s what you need to know…
Let’s break it down…
NFTs, aka non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets that are not interchangeable. While often associated with digital artwork and collectible items, an NFT can contain a link to images, music, videos, memes, documents, or any other file that can be stored digitally.
In addition, NFTs are recorded on digital ledgers called blockchains, allowing digital purchase transactions to be made by tokens, similar to cryptocurrency.
How can you protect yourself?
Registering your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office is one of the most critical forms of legal protection you can take against infringement and misuse of your work.
Registration gives you the proof that you are the rightful owner of that underlying copyright and allows you to go after incidents of NFT theft and pursue legal action when it happens.
——
Sharpen your skil
——
Why now?
In March 2019, the Supreme Court made registration a mandatory requirement before filing a lawsuit. If you don’t register before your content is misused or stolen, you may be leaving serious money on the table (up to $150,000 per infringement PLUS your legal fees).
There is no substitute for registering with the U.S. Copyright Office. — Other types of registrations, recording it on blockchain, or mailing your music to yourself do not provide you with the same rights or benefits.
Here’s what you can do right now…
Our partner, Cosynd, makes the job of protecting and establishing ownership of all your assets (music, video, images, and literature) easy and affordable.
- Register your copyrights with the US Copyright Office in minutes (for just $25 + federal filing fees). Cosynd’s service includes the preparation, review, e-filing, and handling of correspondence with the U.S. Copyright Office until you receive your certificates of registration.
- Build an agreement ($30 per agreement) to get your collaborators on the same page about what they can and can’t do with your content — like sell them as NFTs. Without an agreement, each of your collaborators automatically owns an equal share of your work, under U.S. copyright law.
- Do your homework. With NFT fraud on the rise, make sure you research a marketplace before choosing to buy or sell an NFT.
Don’t wait to start protecting yourself! — Prepare today with Cosynd. 💥
