Why is copyrighting so important?  It protects your creation and ensures that it is your own.  You can choose to develop it as much as possible but the more you detail it out for a copyright the better it is saved; it has to be a tangible product.  Copyright makes sure you have full use and control of it up to a period ranging from 70 to 95 years depending on where you are located.   

You can copyright your idea, text, image, or product and have it sold to someone who can take it to the next level.  Unlike trademarks which are used by larger companies to protect product names, brand identity (like logos), and slogans; Copyrights are used to protect the rights of people who create literature, musical, artistic, and other original works (like history tests, and software code). So the range is large and it can be high level.

By protecting your creative product, copyrighting makes sure that you benefit from the creation and that it does not get copied and misused by someone else.  Specifically, copyrighting allows you to:

• charge a fee, or royalty for the reproduction of the work, helping you monetize your product;
• have a level of protection but at a cheaper cost than a full patent which can be much higher in cost and take much longer to approve (although the protection isn’t as high for a copyright);
• be identified as the creator or author of certain kinds of material, giving you credit where credit is due.  This helps establish your reputation and will support you if you decide to make other products for example; and
• protects the creator’s original work but also to the reproduction by various means of all or parts of that work.

There are limitations to copyrighting, generally legal and technical matters such as “First Sale” where you cannot copyright a used book for example.  Some also think that generally, copyright law’s strict enforcement can stifle creativity, as creators will be discouraged to build on existing works or improve them due to fear of legal consequences which can hinder the evolution of art and culture.

 However, don’t let that discourage you.  Copyrighting is affordable and can be lucrative.  In many cases, people buy copyrights and make revenue depending on the product.  Owning the copyright for a work means you have the exclusive right to commercially benefit from its use.  Copyrighted materials are also seen as having slightly more value than those that aren’t protected to the buyers of the product.  They will inherit the copyright and for them, that might make a big difference when considering a purchase.

So if you have done something there, even if what you think might be a silly song or jingle – copyright it and protect your idea as trivial as it may be.  It would essentially give you or the licensee the right to control how other entities display, perform, distribute, copy, or create derivatives of the work.

There are plenty of online sources that can provide plenty more details.  Make sure you reference the conditions in your own country and legal system as copyrighting laws can vary greatly from country to country.