Save the Songwriter: Links

Legal

legalzoom: The best thing you can ever get for yourself is a good music lawyer. That said, this is a cool site indeed - put together under the aegis of Robert Shapiro, one of the best legal dudes ever....this links to an article which should be mandatory reading for every writer. It tells you how to protect your assets and is a good starting point!

Harry Fox: HFA is the place to go for mechanical licensing, collection, and distributions for for music publishers in the U.S.
If you are an indie publisher or are self-published this is the place to go, and if you wish to license songs this is also the place to go.

SSI - What is income?: This link contains the SSI definition of income, and also shows how SSI payments may be lowered depending on what income you've received. However, read all the links below to determine your particular place in all this, as being self-employed or collecting royalties from your own work may affect the computations.
Types of unearned income: Notable for the composer is paragraph (c) which refers you to the link below for 416.110(b) and (e)
What is earned income: Differentiating between earned and unearned income is extremely important for the writer. Note paragraphs (c) and (e).
How is earned income defined by SSI?: Lots to read on this site...take a look around.
How are net earnings from self-employment calculated?: Good to know for your tax preparations.
SSI Spotlight on Income from the Arts: Self-explanatory, helpful to assess your personal situation.
Continued Medicaid Eligibility: This is Greek to me. If it's greek to you, check out the other link with regard to Medicaid Eligibility - it's a lot easier to understand!
Continued Medicaid Eligibility - Easier Read!: This one I can understand.
If you can understand the other link - congratulations!

CD Baby: All roads lead to Rome, as it were...you can't go wrong selling your CD on this site. Good treatment, good rates, nice streaming, can't ask for more!

ASCAP: One of the premier sites for pro composers. They collect your royalties and offer a lot of other benefits as well.
BMI: Another premier music organisation for composers.
Dramatist's Guild - Bill of Rights: The Dramatist's Guild is an organization for theatrical writers, including lyricists and composers. You will find this link interesting, and might also want to look about the site. They have model contracts which can be extremely useful.
SESAC: The third premier site for composers.

hostbaby: If you need your own website, this is definitely a host to consider - they take really good care of you, have reasonable prices, lots of email room, bandwith, outlets for electronic distribution, and so forth - check it out!