Save the Songwriter
Introduction Avenues for your music Songs and Money Theatrical Songs & Money Get Feedback For Your Song Make Your Demo Pay to Play? Leave a Comment
Save the Songwriter: Blog
Introduction
In the best of all possible worlds, we would walk through a sylvan surrounding, stick a toe in a babbling brook, and write the Seventh Symphony!
Alas, life isn’t like that- and unlike composers of yesteryear, today’s songwriters usually do not have a wealthy patron to supply them with quill pens, pianos, and orchestras.
What we will try to do on these pages is investigate various avenues for the songwriter, so that many possibilities will present themselves to you.
If there is any area you would like explored, feel free to email us and we will, whenever possible, do our best to answer your questions or suggest sources where the answers can be found.
Please be aware that my words of wisdom and this site are not a replacement for your brain and/or a good music lawyer - that said, take a look around through these pages and see what there is to see.
Avenues for your music
For the songwriter/composer, there are various avenues to pursue.
You can have your songs recorded, you can submit songs to be used in film and television, you can write songs for musicals, and you can score for both film and television as well.
If you wish to have a song recorded, you can record it yourself, or submit it for consideration by a name artist. These submissions are extremely competitive, and the more robust the artist the more strenuous the competition.
Reaching the artist is an art in itself. I have heard of songwriters waiting at airports in the middle of a rainstorm to thrust a CD at a famous producer; I once met a composer who ran into a major star on an elevator and had made a song connection by the time they reached her floor!
Besides luck and knowing someone who knows someone who knows someone, artists may also be reached through their managers, through lawyers and publishers.
There are also a few services out there which act as "middle-men" for you. These services usually require you to pay some kind of fee, monthly or subscriptive, and then you are informed as to what kind of material is being searched out.
The bottom line is, music is an extremely social business. The more people that know you and like you the better. The more people that know you and think you're good, the better.
So, don't be shy about networking, putting yourself out there and becoming known to the world.
It will benefit your development as an artist.
Songs and Money
Whilst talking about songs, let's talk about money.
Right now, the statutory mechanical royalty is 9.1 cents for recordings of a song 5 minutes or less, and 1.75¢ per minute or fraction thereof for those over 5 minutes.
This means that when a a song is recorded on a CD is, each song will receive that royalty for each copy sold.
If the author of the song retains all rights to the song, the author will receive that money.
However, if the song has been signed to a publisher, part or all of the publisher's share will go to the publisher, depending on the deal made.
Since the publishing equals half the song's mechanical royalties, if a songwriter signed over all the publishing, the 9.1 cents per copy sold would be split equally.
While this may seem excessive, remember, the publisher (or lawyer, for that matter) may have connections for getting the song recorded that you don't have, so it may be worth it to sign over part or all of the publishing.
What does this mean financially?
Well, if the publisher secures a recording for you that sells 500,000 copies, the song will generate $45,500 worth of mechanical royalties.
The author's share would be 1/2 that, or $22,750 for the one song.
If, on the other hand, you record your own songs (lets say 12 songs) and sell your CD as an indie CD, and made a net profit of $10.00 per CD, you would need to sell more than 2,000 CDs on your own to make the same amount of money, and that would be for 12 songs, not one.
In reality, it's all very random. I had a friend once who turned down writing a song for a film because he would have to give up publishing. Someone else took the job, wrote a hit song, made $165,000.00 - later my friend commented, "who knew?"
But you never really know. Some music catches the ear of the public and some doesn't.
All you can do is put out your best work and cross your fingers.
However, a word of caution if you are giving up publishing: Make sure you're giving up publishing to a publisher who will actually function as a publisher, that is, an entity who will collect your mechanical royalties and forward them to you.
If you're making a connection and someone wants part of the publishing for the passalong, it's better to keep control of the copyright and give them a cut-in. You collect the money and pay them!
Theatrical Songs & Money
Generally speaking, musicals usually involve three authors, one each for book, lyrics, and music. Sometimes one author will write lyrics and music.
The royalties received for performances are equally split three ways.
However, it usually takes a bit of time to develop a musical to the point where it actually makes money.
Charles Koppelman, a well-known publisher, once said, "when you write a show, you actually write three shows. The first show is used to raise money for the production. The second show is for the reviews. The third show is the one you actually run with."
In my experience, unless I've been invited to write the music for a show already in development (a different situation) the show is first written, then put up in backer's auditions or showcases to raise money for a small production, such as an Equity showcase.
If the showcase goes well, more money is raised to open the show Off-Broadway, or Broadway. However, before spending a lot of money in the big bad city most prudent theatrical producers will run a show out of town, on the road, and generally in more inexpensive venues so the show can be fine-tuned.
Somewhere in the development you and the other writers will agree on a contract with the producer (you might want to take a look at the Dramatist's Guild Contract or the examples in This Business of Music) and then keep your fingers crossed to opening night - and beyond.
While I personally consider theatre as the last great gamble in show business, I also feel there is nothing like a live theatrical performance, especially when it's your music that's up there - it's electrifying!
Get Feedback For Your Song
This entry is for the "newbies" amongst us.
Songs may be recorded by the writer, or may be recorded by another artist. These days there is a definite trend for singer/songwriters to record their own material and sell their own CDs online and this has, in many ways, somewhat leveled the commercial playing field. There are some online sites, most famous of which is CD Baby, where you can both sell CDs and also upload for electronic sales.
However, if one wishes to make a fair amount of income from one’s writing, it is also extremely desireable to see if you can get a known artist to record your song.
If you are new in the business, it might be an idea to get feedback on the song before you spend a lot of time, energy and money demoing it and sending it out.
The first feedback will be from friends and family, but what you really want to do is get feedback from professionals in the business; see if you can find songwriters with a bit of a track record whose brains you can pick.
The performance societies, ASCAP and BMI, often have workshops and some are open to the public - do a search online and find out what materials are accessible and also see what literature is available, such as “This Business of Music”.
Don’t forget to copyright your song before you send it out! One way is through the copyright office (forms are available online); a more inexpensive way is to put the song in a sealed, self-addressed envelope and send it to yourself certified…however, don’t open the envelope when you receive it.
In any case, see how people react to the song, and be open to any and all criticism.
Once you’ve listened to the opinions of others, of course, you have to make your own choices because it is, after all, your work.
And, once you have a fair number of songs you’ve written, it will be much easier for you to know when you have something, i.e. a “single” versus a “record cut”.
Remember, when shopping a song you need as strong a song as possible - try to make it “bulletproof”.
Make Your Demo
When your happy with your song, it’s time to make a demo. The cost of making a demo can range from extremely inexpensive to very pricey.
If you are a player or programmer and have the appropriate music equpment, you can make your own. If not, there are a lot of project studios available where you can have a professional producer help you record your song.
That said, there are many entry-level contests available for songwriters and often they will say demo quality is not important, as long as the song can be heard. I have never believed this, but that may be my own personal psychology.
Certainly, when shopping a song to a famous artist or producer it is good to have the best demo you can produce. Use a professional vocalist who will sound like the artist to whom you are submitting the song. Prepare, or have tracks prepared, like the tracks of the artist to whom you’re submitting the song.
Although the above sounds very specific, it’s really more of a style delineation. In any case, you want your demo to sound professional and it’s worth the extra effort.
The goal is to make your demo bulletproof. Remember, the listener will often listen to only the first 8-16 measures and discontinue listening if interest isn’t piqued!
Pay to Play?
Back in the day songwriters and composers would try to get the ear and attention of publishers, producers and artists. The same is true today but there is also a new added distraction for us which may or may not be a positive - many so-called "opportunities" available on the web, usually obtainable by a monthly paid subscription, offer us ways to submit our songs and scores to various venues.
Of course, we are never told how many writers are sending material to each submission, but I suspect it would be legion.
Most, if not all, of the opportunities I've had personally have been through people connected to a project, and even then it was difficult to get selected.
One time I was playing pinball in Midtown New York, and when I came out of the arcade, I ran into my friend Lanny Meyers, a premier pianist/arranger.
I knew he had just put in a bid for a TV show scoring job, so I asked him if he got it. "No," he replied, "they went with a composer from Italy who offered to do it for free. You can't beat those prices!"
I think that says it all in a nutshell - my tendency is to be highly suspect of an "opportunity" which involves prepayment of some kind and might solicate a few thousand competitive submissions, especially if new tracks had to be produced in order to compete - I'm pressed for time as it is, and can't lose ten hours or so at a pop to prepare a track for a submission I probably won't get. Perhaps it's better to socialize and make friends with others in the business who have complementary positions (directors, producers, film editors, and so forth).
Then, when you get asked to submit for a job, you might be competing against only two or three other writers.