Songwriters – Avoid These Deathtraps!

How many times have you seen books, articles, even seminars on how to write a good song – which, in itself isn’t a bad thing – but as one songwriter aptly remarked, “okay, I’ve written the song – now what?”

Getting a half decent answer to that question has, in my experience, been responsible for more songwriters failing in this industry, than for any other reason. So, what is a songwriter to do once a song is written?

How about surfing through a list of the best music publishers you can find online, put a good sounding demo of your song in a jiffy bag, together with a nicely crafted cover letter and lyric sheet, then mail off copies to at least six of them, and wait for the results. If you’re confident you’ve got a good commercial song, they’ll come back to you in good time – won’t they? Hang on a minute! Isn’t this where this song publishing thing starts to go off the boil?

So many songwriters have been “conditioned” into thinking that the very next step, nay – the only step after writing a song, is to take it to a music publisher. The problem with that is, the poor songwriter may have a long wait for the music publisher (already grappling with hundreds possibly thousands of other as yet unreleased songs already sitting around in his catalogue). Most music publishers I know will at the very least insist on the life of copyright for the privilege of getting an artist to record or for getting it into a film, television etc. – And who could blame them – if they’re successful they should be rewarded for giving your song “life”. Trouble is, lifetime of copyright is a long time to wait around. Meanwhile your song may be left to gather dust with thousands of other songs.

I don’t say never take your song to a music publisher. But you need to be smart about this. If they tell you they really like your song and have a definite artist to cover it – then by all means consider negotiating a deal with them. Make sure your agreement or publishing assignment clearly provides for the rights coming back to you in say, six to nine months if the record release or film inclusion doesn’t happen! And even if there is action on your song, still insist on getting the rights back after, say, seven years – unless of course they’re prepared to pay you an advance, in which case you can add two or three years more to the term. That may sound severe – and they may tell you where to go! Just remember, once you give the rights for the lifetime of the copyright – they will effectively control your song for your lifetime plus seventy years. It may turn out to be the best song you ever wrote – and they may end up doing nothing with it. So, always work on the basis of having the rights revert to you even if they pay you an advance. Of course you don’t have to go through a music publisher at all – at least not initially. Here’s the smart thing to do:

“Create a platform” for your song. In other words, exploit it yourself. This is much easier to do than you may imagine. There are thousands of recording artists, record, film and television production companies around the world seeking good commercial songs and music everyday. Understanding music licensing will enable you to do this and make a good living at the same time. This is exactly what a lot of professional songwriters do. Trust me, many experienced writers prefer not to offer the rights to any music publisher at all, preferring instead to do their own music licensing through the many different licensing outlets – labels, commercials, movies, television production companies and agents, around the world.

If you still want to go to a music publisher, do so after creating a successful platform in your song or songs, you can then negotiate on much more favourable terms. Some professional writers like to do this, while others prefer to keep the rights to all their songs, building their own publishing catalogues. You can do the same.

As I have said, the first thing is to get into music licensing. It really isn’t difficult at all. This is the key to being a successful commercial songwriter especially now with so many digital applications and opportunities springing up globally.

Now, before you do anything, not least sending out copies, music licensing etc – once you’ve created your song, your next step should always be to protect the copyright. This can be done by a simple registration process. Simple as this sounds, you may be amazed how many writers overlook this action with disastrous consequences later on.