012 – The Business of Songwriting
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What’s in this episode?
In this episode, we talk about the business of songwriting.
Let’s discuss some tools that could help you in your songwriting business. There’s A&R and Performing Rights Organization.
So we hear about ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and CCLI. What do all those mean to us as independent songwriters? Why should we care about these?
So what is A&R? A&R stands for Artist & Repertoire. The main function is to help expose your songs so you can potentially get a record deal. It’s like a middleman between the band and the record label.
An A&R organization for the independent songwriters is TAXI. They help you connect your songs with a record company or anyone that wants to buy music. You can employ their services for around $299/year.
How about Performing Rights Organizations? We have
ASCAP or The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers of more than 410,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. Its an organization that licenses and collects royalties for the performance of your music.
BMI or Broadcast Music, Inc is another form of performing rights organization that collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed.
SESAC or Society for European Stage Authors and Composers is a performing rights organization (there are three in the U.S.) designed to represent songwriters and publishers and their right to be compensated for having their music performed in public.
CCLI or Christian Copyright Licensing International is a privately owned company established in 1988 to provide churches with simple, affordable solutions to complex copyright issues. CCLI helps churches maintain their integrity and avoid costly lawsuits, while also giving churches the freedom to worship expressively and spontaneously.
Those are just bits of information we tackle in our Podcast Episode today. There’s still more to find out. We have our featured member, tip of the week and more. So stay tuned and enjoy this installment of the How To Write A Song Podcast.
Again, thanks to everyone who has been a part of the growing community so far. I really appreciate you all.
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