hypothetically speaking:

if we are songwriters and want to stay away from ASCAP/BMI because we disagree with their methods, but still want to have a legally supportable claim to our creations (to enforce as _we_ please), how would we go about it?

and what do people know about the "poor man's" copyright, where you write down the song and the words, seal them in an envelope, and mail it to yourself? i guess the postmark is supposed to prove that you knew the song first, and therefore it's yours. does this actually hold up in court? and once the seal is opened to settle a dispute, isn't your poor man's copyright totally useless for ever more?