music publishing and copyright?
Question by AndrewGhostLCL: music publishing and copyright?
hello all! good Sunday morning and i hope its a good one for you too.
today i have a few questions regarding music publication.
first and foremost, I am a composer with no formal training other than my middle and high school band experiences. whilst those are good i suppose in the area of performance and pedagogy, i worry that a publishing company may see less to me because i have no degree or formal training to the effect of musical theory/composition, only what i gather through performance. do publishing companies require some sort of profile or background image to see if there money would be good in me?
question 2 would then be choosing the company. i have read around and seen that there are many companies for publishing country/pop songs, but being a more classical composer (if you’d even go that far. you’ll see why in a second) i don’t have much of a clue as to companies. i know some of the bigger ones (Alfred comes to mind). but seeing as they likely get thousands of submissions monthly, maybe again its not my place seeing as since i lack real formal training, that my compositions may show and id soon be rejected.
furthermore, what should my interactions be with my publication company? i know about sending a manuscript and short letter, waiting a while and waiting to receive a return notice some 3 months later, but what will i hear from them or will they have to hear from me first? how do i know if they’ve accepted my publication, can they partially take it, do i need a lawyer? do i submit the same composition to another company? how do i secure my intellectual properties rights? and the biggest question of all, how does payment work?
and i guess another question would be if i arrange a piece that has a copyright on it, say a video game theme or movie score, what steps do i need to take before having that submitted for publication, is like in a report or essay where there is a certain way you cite the original composer. could i theoretically play these arrangements with a group relationally and just not sell it?
my main area of focus lies in mostly percussion ensembles (my main area of musical focus has been percussion). though i like writing orchestral or chamber orchestra scores, being a percussionist has made me blind somewhat to a lot of the technical aspects of writing scores for bands such as breathing, slurs, articulation definitions, etc. i speak with my band teachers about my stuff and they all come back to the same littlsnafusws but i’m working on it. buthat’sts beside the point, so being more of a percussion focus are there certain companies that focus in just percussion ensembles, solos, arrangements etc? if so please let me know!
phew that’s alot of stuff you guys but i know you guys are smart and awesome and can help me out, please answer just as much as you can for a curiomusicianian and have a blessed end of the weekend.
–Drew
Best answer:
Answer by Wayne T
To publish your own arrangement of a piece with a copyright, you need to pay the holder of the copyright and get written permission to use it. I don’t think there is much of a chance of a publisher paying you to publish your compositions. You might publish it yourself on a computer and put a few copies in music stores to see if anybody will buy it. You could send some to publishers and you might get lucky.
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