How does one get published? I have a friend who writes music for Middle School orchestra.?

Question by Purpose: How does one get published? I have a friend who writes music for Middle School orchestra.?
They would like to write for a company.
Where should they go (company)?

Best answer:

Answer by bearcat
The person will have to get an orchestra to rehearse and record the music. Then they will need to pick a publisher that publishes music for the educational market and send in the recording and a full score.

It would be better if your friend contacted the publisher first and requested their submission guidelines. While Hal Leonard, Kjos and Alfred are three of the larger publishers in the educational market, there are numerous others such as Carl Fischer, Highland/Etling, Warner Brothers, Southern Music, TRN, FJH, Kendor and Grand Mesa to name a few.

Once he has submitted his music be prepared to wait. The reality is that all these companies are deluged by submissions. The educational editor will be looking for pieces that fill the needs of his catalog as regards style, instrumentation and level of difficulty. Also be prepared to be rejected. And DO NOT submit the same piece of music to multiple publishers at the same time.

One of the best things your friend can do is attend a music directors convention (like Midwest in Chicago) where he can pick up the publisher’s catalog and visit with the reps. The alternative is to write to the publishers and request a catalog so that he can at least get a feel for what a particular publisher is looking to publish.

Two other things, first, the educational market is completely different from the commercial market so getting a commercial recording made and distributed is not really very useful, and second, if your friend is going into it to make a lot of money – it’s probably not going to happen! Like I said, there are a lot of people involved in writing music for this market and the number of school groups to sell to is not really that large. Besides, most publisher contracts only give you 10% of retail price on your work so don’t plan on financing that new Mercedes with it. He needs to go into it with the idea that he likes to write and hear his music performed.

Hope I did not paint too gloomy a picture, but that is the reality of the business. It can open other doors and opportunities and it can give satisfaction in hearing your own music.

Best wishes and good luck.

Musician, published composer, teacher.

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