Things I Have Learned About Music Licensing
How To Get Your Original Music Heard
I have been writing songs since I was in High School. I have travelled across the country playing in various bands, but always with the hope that someone would see or hear me, like my music, and want to record it or have someone else record it. When 6 years ago, I became disabled, by a heart attack, stroke, and quad by-pass, I needed to reevaluate. I had had a good extensive career in Christian ministry, but still had never made the music connection. I began to research on the internet about publishing, and getting music into the hands of professionals. Of course, it is still possible to find publishers through books like the writer’s Market, but here is another option. There are several independent AR companies, that have begun to be big movers in the market. Some require membership some do not, but here are some suggestions. This list is by no means exhaustive, but will give you some starting points.
1. The first company I found was Taxi. Taxi requires membership and an annual renewal. You can submit songs in the MP3 format into a sort of personal vault. Then, each week they will post to your email opportunities in multiple genres. If you feel you have an appropriate song, you can go into your music library, check the box next to a particular song to be submitted. Taxi charges $5 for each entry. Your song will be submitted by the reviewer assigned to this listing, one of numerous reviewers, who will determine if they think your song is appropriate for the listing. If they feel your song is right, they will select and forward it to the person or supervisor who is seeking a song or musical production such as yours. They will then evaluate and may respond positively to you personally. Taxi employees are very responsive and helpful, and there are regular video events to educate and help music makers.
After finding out about Taxi ( http://www.taximusic.com/), I found several others which I will mention briefly.
2. Broadjam (http://www.broadjam.com/), provides a large number of opportunities as well. There are levels of membership, but there is a free level that gets one started. From what I have been able to experience, the music supervisors who select a song, present your song to the entity seeking music. Then ultimately the business or artist to whom your work has been presented will contact you with an offer when they choose it.
3. Some other hopeful independent A&R providers are Songtradr (https://www.songtradr.com/user). This site will lead you to many types of opportunities.
4.Another helpful group that will lead you to many new thoughts and provide excellent educational opportunities is Songs Alive. (http://www.songsalive.org/) Songs alive has a relationship with several A&R companies, and is a place where many song writers find each other and are heard.
5. I have submitted to Hitlicense. (https://app.hitlicense.com/) Hitlicense has very clear descriptions of opportunities and has a very clear way for you to see where your song is in the process.
6. Musicxray can be joined for free and is helpful in evaluating songs (required). They charge as little as $5 and up to $20. (https://www.musicxray.com/signup)
Most of these Independent A&R companies prefer MP3s but that is not universal. I have found this software that will help change your song to the format requested. (http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html). It is free at first but to use often you will need to purchase.
The Independent A&R to whom you have submitted will continue to advise you of opportunities after you become associated with them. Your email address will become very important. Thanks for joining me, and paying attention to how to get your original music heard.
In future postings, I will talk about copyright and pro organizations, which are definitely important aspects of sharing your music.
revdocwelch