Comments on: A Portrait of an Artist as a Self-Marketer

By: Francis M. D'Amico

Francis M. D'Amico — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:22:55 +0000

Gary: You are correct. Ed should also apply to ASCAP to be a publisher of his songs.
I am registered as a composer and publisher. If you are your own publisher you get 100% on a performance of a concert work.
Keep up the good work on your blog Gary. Sincerely, Francis

By: Francis M. D'Amico

Francis M. D'Amico — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:53:22 +0000

To all: Thanks for the info. To make myself clearer; I write orchestra, chamber, & choral music and to get more than 1 or 2 performances a year of my works require large ensembles. I have been fortunate over the past seven or eight years to have had them performed but I’m looking for national attention. As I have said I am an ASCAP member/publisher. Thanks, Francis

By: Francis M. D'Amico

Francis M. D'Amico — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:03:05 +0000

Gary: Thanks for your info. Yes, I do belong to ASCAP and the American Composers Forum. Sincerely, Francis

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:49:06 +0000

To Gary…Thank you Gary. Your advice is much appreciated. Ed

By: Patrick Ross

Patrick Ross — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:22:09 +0000

Gary, thank you for your articulate and helpful response to Ed.

Thank you everyone for your comments. We at the Copyright Alliance welcome dialogue with artists and creators.

By: Jon Magnificent

Jon Magnificent — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:13:34 +0000

Thank you for this article.

By: gary

gary — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:05:39 +0000

To Ed…if you are a member of ASCAP as a song writer, you also need to register as a publisher (say, Ed’s Music). Any royalties received will all go to you as song writers traditionally get 50% and publishers 50%. Hope that helps

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:34:38 +0000

Your articles are very interesting and informative. In the response i read, you mentioned “self-published” songwriters. How does a songwriter self publish? I am a member of ASCAP and haven’t figured this one out yet. Thanks, Ed

By: Patrick Ross

Patrick Ross — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:35:01 +0000

Francis,

Thanks for posting. I do consider this an artist blog, although we focus primarily on how copyright enables artists, and our web site provides information on copyright such as how to register. We don’t get into the weeds with any specific industry, however.

I’m aware of a lot of blogs, online forums and web sites focused on songwriting. I can’t vouch for them all, but one good site is Songwriter101 (http://www.songwriter101.com ). Also the Songwriters Guild of America (http://www.songwritersguild.com/ ) provides good resources for its members.

Oh, and I’m sure you know this, but I wanted to clarify based on your post that under the law a public performance is more than just an actual live performance, it encompasses radio or TV airplay, airing in a restaurant or other public establishment, streaming on the Internet and more. If you don’t already belong to a performing rights organization such as BMI, ASCAP or SESAC you should look into it. Plenty of self-published songwriters belong, and they collect royalties for you.

I wish you the best of luck.

By: Francis M. D'Amico

Francis M. D'Amico — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:41:04 +0000

Thank you for your enlightening article. Composers of music, like myself, have their music performed once or twice but then it sits until you are invited to perform some of your works again. I publish and write my own music which is fine for the performance royalties but performances don’t come along as often as I would like. I going to try the “artist” statement idea and so how that works out. Is there an artist blog? I don’t have any idea what this is? I appreciate your column. Sincerely, Francis M. D’Amico