The Absolute Minimum Copyright is the legal right to control and profit from something you've created. You don't have to do anything special to own the copyrightit's created automatically as soon as you've created the work. If you want to be able to defend your copyright in court, you'll need to register your copyright with the Library of Congress. For podcasts, form SR is the proper form to use, and a copy can be downloaded from the Library of Congress website. If you want to retain some control over how your intellectual property is used, you may release it under the terms of the Creative Commons. This system, based upon the GNU Public License frequently used by software authors, doesn't require a fee for the license to use a work, but may place certain limitations on the person using the material. Under certain very special conditions you may use portions of a copyrighted work without asking permission of the copyright holder. If you're writing a critique or teaching a class, you can use short excerpts from a piece to illustrate a particular point, but you may not include the entire piece in your class or podcast. If you're writing a parody of a particular song, you may use the melody, for example, though the words you put with it must be different from the original, and must be a parody of the original work. If you're interested in learning more about the process of licensing music, there are websites, such as the sites for the Harry Fox Agency and Bug Music, that have pages where you can read in considerably more depth about the topics. | 