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Richhoncho's Songwriters Links Articles copyright - the legislation, the options, how and when to register rhyme schemes - list of the names and types of rhyme song check list - A list of questions to ask yourself to help you decide whether you have written a classic song. Chord Map in the key of C - Copied, with permission from Steve Mugglin's wonderful site "Music Theory for Songwriters." 10 song writing blunders - a comparison between classic songs & indie/demo recordings - kindly supplied by Roedy Black. 36 rules for bands - a light-hearted look at things to avoid. Publishing basics - kindly supplied by Irene Jackson How to make a $million from your music - the secret information they don't want you to know. How to make a $million from your music Part II - A list of some of the more dubious ways to part a musician and songwriter from their hard-earned cash. Links The Creative Bit :- General Songwriter Advice Groups Fellow Songwriters with helpful tips/links Musicianship/Tutorials etc :- The Recording Bit :- Getting Heard :- Information Overload :- Online facilities- radio & magazines Some more useful addresses :- Copyright/Royalty Collection Agencies Songwriter & Musician Organizations Chat rooms and message boards :-
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Richhoncho's Songwriters Links Publishing basics
The following article was copied, with permission, from Irene Jackson's wonderful site. Please be sure to check Irene's other wonderful and helpful articles. First of all, I want to emphasize the
fact that my experience with publishing has to do with having my music on
television series, which is different in some ways from having a song
contracted to a publisher. Most of what I've learned has been through
connections with other published writers or publishers themselves. But I
do occasionally get emails asking what publishing deals are, or how to
"sell" their songs (you don't outright sell your songs, but more
on that later)...and of course most people are curious as to how they can
get a deal! Let's start at the very beginning and discuss what exactly it
is. Warning: Music biz lingo ahead! I'll try to explain the terms that may
be unfamiliar to you.
First of all, let's discuss what a publisher does. A
publishers' main job is to create a catalogue (collection) of songs that
they can pitch (promote) to artists or producers, anyone who might
potentially get a song recorded or on a project. Larger publishers are
often also connected with, or even a branch of, a record label. Kind of an
"all in one" package. In this case, if a performing songwriter
is signed to a label, her/his songs are usually published through that
record label's publishing branch.
But many publishers are strictly in the business of
creating their catalogue in the hopes of getting one or more of their
songs on a hit record. Why? Because part of the money that is made from a
successful recording goes to the publisher. This is how it works:
When a song gets on the radio it earns royalties. You've
probably heard the word "royalties" before. Simply speaking, the
song being "exposed" to the public in some way, either on radio
or television, in a restaurant...wherever you hear music publicly, earns
money. Any company or organization that uses music in some way as part of
their business, has to pay a lump sum fee to a "performing rights
organization" such as SOCAN, ASCAP, or BMI...every country has its
own performing rights organization (PRO). This PRO collects information on
when a song was played and how much, and distributes this money to its
members (publishers, songwriters, etc.). The more exposure a song gets,
the more money the publisher (and songwriter) makes. Bingo.
For the songwriter, the advantage to having a song with
a publisher is that the publisher will hopefully have some good music
business connections and will work hard to get the song on an artists'
recording. They are interested in finding great songs! This is where you
come in because you've got the great songs! But how do you find the
publishers? How do they know about you?
One book I recommend you get yourself is called Songwriters'
Market. Check your local bookstore, or buy it online from any number
of online sites. Not only does it go into detail as to what a songwriter
can do to get her/his song heard by publishers, but it actually lists
names and addresses of publishers to send your songs to! There are
articles written by people in the business and it gives you some standards
to adhere to as far as looking and sounding professional (very important!)
This book is a great place to start gathering information on the business
side of songwriting.
How do you get a deal with a publisher? Well, first of
all, let's discuss what a publishing deal is. There are basically two
types of deals: a single song deal and a writer's deal. The single song
deal is easier to get, and simply involves signing only one of your songs
with a publisher. The writer's deal is extremely difficult to get...this
involves essentially working for a publisher where the rights to all of
the songs you write during this tenure are assigned to them. You do get
paid, but only as an advance on potential future royalties. In other
words, your songs have to eventually make money or they'll dump you! These
days a writer's deal is even MORE difficult to get. Many labels and
publishers are doing the ol' "downsizing" and employing fewer
writers.
So let's assume that you're only looking for a single
song contract. You make your list of publishers to send your demo tape to,
you ship them off and you wait. You get a call from a publisher (hey, if
that happens the FIRST time you send your song out, consider yourself
either LUCKY or an incredible, undiscovered writer!!). The publisher says
he's interested in the song and thinks he can pitch it to an artist who's
in the studio right now and looking for more songs to consider recording.
What happens next? The publisher sends you a contract, you are hopefully
smart enough to take it to an entertainment lawyer (!!), you decide it's a
good deal, you sign the contract, and voila! You have a publishing deal.
Does this mean that the money starts rolling in? NO! The contract only
gives the publisher the right to exploit the song for a period of time.
"Exploit" seems like a dirty word, but it is the term used for
trying to get a song heard. If during that period of time nothing comes of
it, the contract runs out and the deal is off. That's it.
If, however, the publisher manages to get someone
interested in your song...what happens next? Does this mean the money
starts rolling in now? NO! The producer/artist/record label has simply put
the song on "hold". A hold means that the publisher promises not
to pitch the song anywhere else until the artist/producer, or whoever,
decides if they want to use it. It sits in limbo until the decision is
made one way or the other. If they decide to record it, you're in
business! Does this mean the money starts rolling in? Not yet. Once the
song is on a CD and then manufactured, the first money you'll see is a
part of the mechanical royalties. Usually there is a contract between the
writer/publisher and record label or artist for these royalties. The last
I heard, mechanical royalties are just a little over 7.5 cents per CD. If
they manufacture 10,000 CD's, you'll get a part of $750.00. In some cases,
the publisher splits that with you. Doesn't sound like much, does it?
What about radio airplay? Since most royalties come from
that, you'd be really interested in your song getting on the radio,
wouldn't you? But that only happens if your song is chosen as a
"single". The record label decides which songs would be good as
singles, songs that are chosen to represent the CD. If your song is not
chosen as a single, you won't see much in the way of royalties, certainly
not to begin with. OH, it's a long and complicated process, isn't it? :-)
Next, if the song DOES get some airplay, eventually you
might see some royalties. Might? Well, you have to get a LOT of airplay
for your song to be noticed. In Canada, where I live, radio stations send
in a sample log to SOCAN (the PRO) once a month. What's a log? It's a
stack of papers that show the songs and commercials and everything that
was broadcast on that station for a day. The log that they send in has to
have your song on it, in other words, it had to be played on that radio
station that day for it to even show up as having had airplay. If your
song played the day BEFORE, well, you're outta luck! Doesn't sound very
promising, does it? Sometimes it takes months for a song to catch onto the
listeners out there...sometimes a radio station will give up on it long
before that. Not only that, but politics are involved. Record labels work
hard at convincing radio stations to play their artists latest recording,
but the programming managers at the station have to like it. Arrgghhh....!
Let's get back to the publishing deal...
All single-song contracts should have what is called a
"reversion clause" written into it. Be aware of this! A
reversion clause means that after a period of time (could be 6 months,
could be two years) if the publisher is unsuccessful in exploiting your
song, you get the publishing rights to the song back. Then you start all
over. There are many songwriters out there with single song contracts,
getting the song on a recording is much more difficult. A lot of
publishers these days are working on getting songs placed in movies...this
is another way for the song to earn money. Although movie theatres do not
pay royalties like radio or television stations do, the song would be
recorded on the soundtrack as part of the movie promotion. Just about
every movie has a soundtrack these days! Getting your song on a television
show is another way that you can earn royalties. I wrote music for several
television series'...everytime that music plays, I get royalties! The
beauty of my situation is that I am my own publisher, so the most I end up
doing is paying a part of the publisher's portion of the royalties to the
producers of the series. This is a slightly different situation than the
publishing deal you're likely in search of. But as you can see, there are
all kinds of possibilities out there.
Some things to be aware of:
If a so-called "publisher" asks you for money
to record your song, or for any other reason...RUN THE OTHER WAY. This is
NOT what a legitmate publisher will do. You should NEVER pay money to a
publisher for anything! If they want to re-demo the song, they will do it
themselves.
If a publisher wants to "buy" the rights to
your song...again, RUN THE OTHER WAY. A legitimate publisher knows that
you can't buy people's rights from them. It is not done. Well, maybe in
some countries, but don't be fooled!
Most publishers listed in Songwriters Market are
legitimate...occasionally you'll come across one that isn't. How do you
know? When they start making all kinds of promises to you. The old saying
"If it sounds too good..." you know the rest. For the most part,
it is not in a publishers' best interest to start a bad reputation! They
want to develop a good relationship with you, one that will benefit
everyone.
Most publishers will want ALL of the publishing rights
to your song. You may have heard of situations where songwriters own some
of their own publishing. They are usually well-established songwriters who
have a little more clout and can negotiate these kinds of deals. In the
beginning, expect to compromise to some extent. Do you want a deal, or
would you rather not? This is often what it comes down to. Later on, when
you're a famous writer :-) you can get yourself a better deal!
Is a publishing deal all it's cut out to be? That's up
to you. In my case, I'm a performing songwriter and not as anxious to get
published because I perform them myself. That doesn't mean I won't in
future, but for now, it's not in the cards. If you are not a performing
songwriter, the only way you're going to get your songs heard is by
somebody else performing them. You may be able to find a group or an
artist on your own! That's the sign of a savy songwriter! But if you've
decided you'd prefer a publishing contract, and after this article STILL
think you want to pursue it, here are a couple of other resources you
might check out:
For a more thorough description of royalties and how to
get 'em, read Nancy Reese's article for the Muse's Muse...Publishing
101.
Robert Carter has also written an article for the Muse's
Muse explaining the sources of Publishing
Income.
In fact, for a whole bunch of questions about publishing
and copyright, why not take a cruise through Nancy Reese's many Q&A
articles for the Muse's Muse...you might find your answer right here!
Here is a massive list of contract samples! Band
Radio has compiled a huge list of all kinds of contracts, including a
publishing contract. Look for "Single Song Option (reversion)"
near the bottom. This is and addendum to the publishing contract with the
reversion clause I mentioned. There are also sample "mechanical
rights" contracts.
Want a little taste of what it's like to actually sit in
front of a publisher? Here's an article called the Oooh
Factor. If you're still gung ho after this read, you're halfway there!
Hopefully, this information will give you a little
insight into the mysterious world of publishing...Good Luck!
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