Copyrights for Producers?

[4th Wise Man]

First Things First...
They Wouldn't Give Us 40 Acres and A Mule So We'll Take 50 States and A White House...

Now the business... There is a lot of conflicting information floating around online about the best way for a producer to protect their work before they sell the rights. I have heard people say to send a beat cd to the Library Of Congress once a month or so, but others say not to do that and to do the ghetto copyright ("poor man's copyright" mailing a selaed copy of the work to yourself), but then there are those who say that that gets no respect in court.. What, if anything, do y'all do?

Also, what are the rules about copyrighting beats with uncleared samples? Is it even the producer's responsibility to get the sample clearances, or is it the artist who uses the beat's responsibility?

[Aje]

what were the arguements against sending your beats to be copywritten by the library of congress?

[4th Wise Man]

"what were the arguements against sending your beats to be copywritten by the library of congress?"

Sample Clearances, changes to arrangements/music (like, if I change the beat, does the original copyright cover the new version?), do I copyright the beats with digital watermark or clean, short arrangements or full arrangements, etc...? Also, I generally sell my beats as work-for-hire, so that the artist owns the copyright (since most underground artists don't have soundscan, bmi, or any other royalty-generating things..) and simply pays me my fee, but if I own the copyright, then I have to transfer it, and that requires more paperwork... I just want to know what, if anything, other producers do in this situation...