Publishing Your Songs

Publishing your songs is a lot different than you think.

In the book business, when you have a book published, you get a book.  There it is in the window of the bookstore and at amazon.com.  But not so in publishing your songs.

In the music business, when you have a song published, you get a piece of paper from a music publisher, hopefully a legitimate one, usually saying that you and the music publisher will share the income from your song fifty-fifty. 

The song publisher gets that 50% to explore absolutely every possible avenue to create income from your song.  No point in publishing your song with him unless he can prove he has a great recent track record showing he can create that income for you. 

While in pursuit of publishing your songs, you need to know that unless your song is a big hit, you won’t ever see sheet music with a shiny picture of the artist or band who recorded it and your name on it.

Many frustrated writers who haven’t connected in a positive, money-making way with mainstream, legitimate music people, often decide to publish their own songs.  Fine.  Now they are without any real connections and have, as we say, 100% of nothing.

Careful that your ego and frustration don’t take you down dirt roads with no way back. 

Careful in publishing your songs.

© 2022 Molly-Ann Leikin

songmd@songmd.com

Related Articles