"Publishing: From Here To Over There"
|
Music Publishers |
Ah, you got those great songs. You think they are perfect, where the girls go gaga over you on stage and the guys elevate it to the national anthem of angst and raging hormones. But hello, you need to record those songs and try to find a way to put it in public, right? Much to a musician's chagrin, there are steps and systems to follow. Yes, the way to the gold pot at the end of the rainbow requires a keen sense of direction from here to there.
Put it in memory: Not your memory. It's a fact that your neurons may misfire at anytime and you may lose those precious, MTV award-winning lyrics (Well, some musician's neurons misfire ALL the time. Why am I not surprised..?). Make sure that you record all of the lyrics; try different schemes also (acoustic or amplified instruments, or if you feel operatic -- solo, duet, or acapella). The more variations, the better your chance of hitting that sweet spot for airplay cut. Anyway, you need to record that track, that way, you won't forget that "Song of The Year-nominee" music. Er, sort of…
Fine tuning: Any portion in any part of the song can be repeated in trance-inducing times as you want. The more, the sicker. The better. You may cut the portions that makes no sense, portions that puts the great rhythm in the grey instead of concrete, defined colors. Edit out any unwanted portions of the song. You can polish up on those areas that needs polishing, strengthening the areas of the song where the tune must flow freely and the thought unobstructed.
Mastering: Here, you try to maximize the tracks and optimize the cuts by stuffing tracks that are weak in between strong tracks. Or you place weak tracks at the latter portion of the album and the strong ones as the opening singles.
Copyright: Here, you stamp it down and tell the whole wide world that the song is yours, with a great heaping of blood, sweat and tears. You put enough protection and fence around the real estate of your mind's work, telling them to get lost or else…well, depends on you and your vigilance to protect what is yours.
**********************************************************************
Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.
**********************************************************************