My wife is designing a website for some of my favorite songs - some original, some re-arranged, some borrowed, and some traditional. The site would include lyrics with notes, and MP3 samples of how I do the songs. Among other things I would like to link this site to some of the songs I've posted on Mudcat.

I'm now looking for some advisory wording that provides me some protection for lyrics or arrangements in which I have a major creative role. I realize that the safest thing to do to avoid being rudely ripped off would be not to implement the website. However, I'm willing to risk that and try to devise some middle ground where I affirm that some of the lyrics or arrangements posted have copyright protection and if someone wants to use such songs for commercial purposes they should endeavor to secure my express permission.

I've cruised through a few websites but so far haven't found a statement which seems to work for me. If I did find one I'd, of course, seek permission to use that statement and provide full credit to the composer!

This may have been adequately addressed in a previous Mudcat thread but I haven't found it among the tangle of threads that address copyright questions.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble