As stated by current law, any dance is copyrighted the moment it is fixed in "a tangible medium of expression," like a video or notation.
Law, in this case, refers to the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act (AWCPA), an amendment to the copyright act passed by Congress in 1990 establishing the protection of works of architecture "embodied in any tangible medium of expression", including buildings, plans and drawings.
Rightsholders get a copyright – an expansive, long-enduring right to control most copying, display, adaptation and performance – when they create something new and fix it in a tangible medium.
What makes the culture of Napster pertinent to the future of print is not just the velocity of its acceptance but the ease with which its enthusiasts have broken their supposedly entrenched listening habits, ditching CD's for a less tangible medium.
In a major revision of copyright law in 1976, the U.S. Congress specified that copyright subsists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, and it provided that such works include literary, musical, and dramatic works; pantomimes and choreographic works; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works; and sound recordings.
The domain of copyright protection is original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression (17 U.S.C. §102 (1988)).
Separate to patents, copyright refers to the rights granted to the creator of an idea embedded in a tangible medium, including literary, musical, dramatic, and artistic works.
Unlike patents and trademarks, which must be applied for, a copyright attaches immediately when the work is "fixed in a tangible medium" (e.g. sculpted, written down, displayed on a computer screen, etc).
Copyright protects original works 'fixed in a tangible medium.'".
If your music is not fixed in a tangible medium (recorded, written down, etc)., it's not protected.
