PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic selling the rights to your songs

I know some here are writing songs with the specific intent of selling them to other artists. I'd like to hear more about this...

what works,
what doesn't
which services help,
which ones are a ripoff,
contact information for people who know people who buy music
and any other tips you've learned by selling (or trying to sell) your songs

Pat,

This is one page of one of my sites. Not selling, its free site.
I might confuse you more dont know, whole bunch of researched links.
Do not endorse any particular one, but may help you.

http://www.copyrightonline.us/other-copyright-sites.html

I own quite a few song copyrights, but never pursued the use of them.
Another site am active on, BMI was repeatedly mentioned.

Not sure of charges, costs items along that vein, but do believe if
you "register" your songs with BMI or similar site, it can give you some
amount of protection and open some doors.

Dont think you have to use Fed copyrights to protect your music. There is
public use or publishing rules/rights for your music.

I am about as far from being a lawyer as can be.

The page is simply a list of many places and ideas.

Good luck.

BTW, for anyone pursuing Fed copyrights, explore "Collective Works" path.
This allows you to copyright many songs under the "Collective" banner for same price
as one sone. Reasonable economical to split the works at a later date.
I did this for a group of about 45 songs. Also expect 6 months to a year for your work
to be completed.

Gidday Pat.

There are so many variables, it’s like looking for that proverbial needle . . . on a record player. Ha! Gotcha . . . you thought I was going to say . . . haystack . . . right?

The music goes nowhere on your computer – you might as well do something, even if it is wrong. Sending out thousands of CDs, unless solicited by the publisher etc is going to the trash-bin if you don’t have an invite to submit.

That’s why I decided to use Taxi.com – yup it’s expensive BUT industry people are coming to Taxi for help in finding material – not only artists but all the way to music supervisors for TV and Film.

Were I interested in using Taxi.com,I’d spend a few hours reading through the Taxi.com site – there’s loads of info which needs to be read before submitting songs in order to increase the success of a forward.

I think there are other such companies as Taxi.com but one’s enough to manage and do it right – particularly as I don't live in a music Mecca like Nashville or LA. I’ve been submitted and been rejected by Taxi but most of the time I get good critiques and I can fix it and submit it again.

Yes there will be copyright issues – but then again you can get mugged on the street – probably less chance of getting a song stolen if you work within a reputable format/company. After your song gets forwarded, Taxi’s job is done, the rest is up to the company that solicited the material and you, to work the deal.

Many moons ago I registered as a publishing company and artist with a performing rights organization. Every song I write, now is registered with my publishing name – it establishes a date for copyright purposes and gives me 100% rights to the tune with which to strike usage deals.

I think the risk of copyright infringe is worth the risk to crack the business. If you’re trying to breach the wall you can’t sit back and worry about it. Better should read the Taxi listings to get an idea how to put your songs together according to the way they ask for submissions – you’ll see what I mean when you read the listings.

Let’s face it, writers need help. We can’t sit and fret. Yup – may get burned sometime on copyright – it won’t be Taxi but it could be one of Taxi’s clients – still you can’t burn bridges in this business or people stop working with you.
Stay with reputable people and you should be OK. For you Yanks - the Library of Congress.

I just re-enlisted with Taxi – they give you a 50 free song web site – that way all submissions are on-line – and cost $5 per – and a yearly membership $299.99 or $199.99 if renewing – there’s a lot of convenience in using Taxi, you just have to make sure your songs are on target when submitted. Or, no matter how good it is, it won’t get forwarded.
And I’ve had a couple of big “Not on target”.

I’d also say to anyone asking “don’t wait until your song is perfect”. Good home recordings are acceptable and can be overdone. A lot of Film and TV stuff is pretty simple.

Didn’t think I’d write this much when I decided to answer you Pat. But it is exciting waiting for Taxi.com to respond with a critique or to tell you they’ve forwarded your tune.

Cheers - Ian

Pat,

I haven't read it, but maybe this is worth checking out:

http://www.amazon.com/Songwriters-Survival-Guide-Success-Pitch/dp/1423488857

Hi Pat.

Personally, I always avoid anyone who's asking me for money!

If it's specifically songs which you want to sell, I suggest you find a target - an artist who doesn't write their own material. Write something in their style and make sure it's in their key. Put two copies, one with vocals and one just backing, on a CD and send it direct to their agent. The agent will listen to the first ten seconds of the track, so make sure it doesn't have a long intro. If he likes the first bit he'll let it play.

I used to think this was stupid until I found myself in a position where I was doing it myself. It's surprising how fast you can weed out the no-hopers and when you've got fifty or so to get through ...

Your chances will be about as good as the song is. If you get it picked up, get a good music lawyer who'll be able to explain the points system and radio plays etc. You're unlikely to get your copyright ripped off because if it's good stuff, they'll want more of it.

If you want to get into music for media, it's a different thing altogether. Just ask.

Hope you find this helpful.

ROG.

You're welcome my friend. Good luck.