The first thing you want to do is go to kinkos and get a professional-looking score. If youve written a piano piece, a pop song or a piano-voice song thingy, 60# paper is good
if youve written something that takes more pages, a spiral-bound score is in order. Make sure you have all the intricate details of the copyright
symbols and everything.
Next you want to register your work with the patent office. When you write something, you automatically have a copyright on itits just not registered. Some people like to mail things to themselves (a poor mans copyright), but that rarely holds up in court. The point is to have legal proof that YOU wrote what you wrote and you had it at some point in time before the other guy claimed to have it. You can register as much music as you want with one fee if its all there at the same time, so make sure to send in EVERYTHING you have.
Publishers? There are lots of them on the web, and you can find plenty for whatever avenue of music youre in. (There are even *miscellaneous* publishers) If you get a deal, though, make sure its a good one, because publishers put some restraints on you as well. Its almost like getting married.
In addition there are some other ways to go about it. There are some publications that produce large annuals full of music, and if they put your piece in one of them youll get paid (I think) for every copy thats sold. The downside is people are allowed to photocopy your music
which might not be a bad thing. Maybe it can help get your name out, or maybe you just want to make some bread and let lots of people be blessed.
ASCAP is another thing. I dunno exactly where their limits are on style, but their deal works like this: if youre a member and you know of a performance featuring your work somewhere, send them evidence of the performance, like a program or something, and theyll do one of two things:
1. If the place is registered with ASCAP and authorized to use ASCAP music, youll get a check in the mail.
2. If the place isnt registered with ASCAP, they send Bruno to break somebodys knees.
ASCAP probably isnt the way to go for guys who want to produce music for church. Its more for professional performances. I mean, you dont want to sue a church because somebody sings your song in it. And I dont even know if you could. Just know that theyre out there.
Buuuut at any rate you still want a registered copyright, because while you dont want to sue your brothers and sisters, you do want to get paid for your work, and a copyright discourages folks (especially those who follow the law of the land until it conflicts with the law of God) from not paying you your just days wage. In other words, singing to the Lord is wonderful, but ripping off your sheet music while you starve isnt.
Finally, there is self publishing. If youre a starter, its probably a good idea to send your stuff to big publishers to get your name out there, and then when you have your ducks in a row, you can publish things yourself to eliminate the middle man. I cant really tell you HOW to self publish on a considerable scale, though, cause I havent done it.
It all depends on what you want. If you want to make a little money, copyright and sell sheet music. But if you just want to share your work with others so they too can be blessed, and communicate with other churches about what you guys are singing and writing, so that you can share a pool of songs that lift praises to God, you might talk to your pastor about putting together a songbook for all the songwriters in your church to participate in, and give it away. Ok
thats the 2nd long babble Ive put on this forum K