Changing the way we hear and see music!!!

Dear Rich: I have a revolutionary idea that can change the way we hear and see music and I need to get it protected!!! I mentioned it to a few people for approval and I'm afraid that they might take the idea to their investors. What should i do until I can afford to put the idea out???? First of all, the Dear Rich Staff gets nervous when people repeat punctuation.  We don't think repetition intensifies statements; we think it trivializes them and that's the last thing you want if you've come up with an idea that will change the way we hear and see music (Wait. See music? Are you referring to synesthesia?)

Right, you had a question. Assuming your idea was once a trade secret, that protection is over now that you've provided it to others without requiring their confidence. It doesn't seem like your idea would be protected by copyright since you're apparently referring to a method of doing something (and copyright doesn't protect methods). Maybe your idea could be protected by a patent because many great musical ideas have been protected that way (at least that's what we said in one of our books). In that case you have one year from any written disclosure of your idea to file for the patent (or to file a provisional patent application and file a regular patent application within one year of that).