​There is a certain formula one must use to create a “copyright notice” in your music. This is the copyright text found usually at the bottom of the first page of a musical composition. For your purpose as a liturgical composer, there are four basic components:

1. Copyright and Date
   You can use the word “copyright” or the symbol ©. The date should simply be  the year your work was created (or several years representing original and new editions – these years would be separated by commas – Ex. 1990, 1997, 2004).
   
   
2. Author’s Name
   This is the main part of a copyright. For liturgical music, there is always at least a text writer and music composer. This may be the same person/company, but isn’t always. There can also be an arranger. Although one can write these in any order, the traditional order is: (1) Text Writer, (2) Music Composer, (3) Arranger. 
   
   
3. Publisher’s Name
   Since YOU are the publisher, you can simply write your own name or your company’s name as the publisher.
   
   
4. Statement of Rights
   This is where you can let people know that what rights you’re holding onto with your copyright. Although there are several types of rights that copyright notices will have, most in our industry use the notice “All rights reserved.” This statement means that you keep all rights to your material. You will also commonly see the line “Used with permission.” This means you have obtained permission from someone else to publish something they own the copyrights to. 

To learn more about writing a copyright notice, please visit this useful website. Also remember to look at professional music being created in your field to see how the experts do it.