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Many lyricists and people with poems ask if there is anyone
who will buy just the lyrics and the answer is "no, not in the music business", that would actually fall
under a book publisher's area. A song has to be complete, meaning having both words and music.
The Songwriting Process
Here is an explanation of the songwriting process, from songwriter to release of the recording.
1. It starts with a complete song, meaning both words and
music. If you write just lyrics, you will need to find a co-writer to compose the music for you. One of the ways
IMM can help you is through our our online collaboration services
where writers who need music, and also, musical composers who need lyrics, can come together to work on creating
songs.
2. Next, you must have a demonstration recording, or "demo",
so music executives can hear how your song sounds. If you are a musician, you may be able to make the recording
yourself. If not, you will have to hire musicians. This is another area that IMM can help you with by offering
you our demo
services. We can turn your rough idea into
a professional recording.
3. After the song is completed, you should register the copyright
with the Library Of Congress in Washington, DC.
What Does Copyright Mean?
Copyright can be defined as the "Right To Copy". The party who possesses the "right to copy"
is the copyright owner. Under a system of National Laws and International Copyright Treaties, the copyright owner
has the "exclusive right" to perform, display, print, record, or otherwise reproduce the work in any
way. Others can obtain permission to use someone's copyrighted work by receiving a License from the copyright owner(s)
or their authorized agents.
The following publications are from the Library of Congress website and we offer them freely to you to help understand
the required processes for submitting you materials to the LOC and registering your copyrights. These items are
for reference only, please verify and obtain all forms directly from the LOC. To download, right click on each
link and choose "Save Target As" then select the folder on your system you wish to save them in and press
"save". These files are in .pdf format.
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4. Next comes publishing.
Publishing Facts
BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and SOCAN are performing
rights organizations. They distribute the royalties your song earns to the publisher. The publisher in turn, pays
the royalty due to the songwriter. If a publisher does not belong to one of these organizations, they can not collect
the royalties and pay them to you. A publisher that can not collect and pay royalties is worthless therefore always
make sure any USA publisher is affiliated with either BMI, ASCAP or SESAC before you sign. In Canada, SOCAN.
The music publisher will attempt to secure a record deal. Once the CD is released by the record company, you will
hopefully start to make some money. Iron Mountain Music is a BMI registered publisher, click here for more information on our services.
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