Music publishing is a is a mystery to many. The breakdown of how publishing companies operate is beyond the scope of this site. There are many great books on the subject. I recommend “Making Music Make Money” By Eric Beall. Basically, music publishers are “song salesmen” Example 1; Christina Aguilera is releasing a new album and she needs new songs. I am a music publisher that has the “perfect” hit song to go on her album. I contact her manager/lawyer and arrange for a pitch session where someone from Electrodyne plays the song and hypes it up to them. Example 2; The music supervisor for Will Smith’s new movie is looking for futuristic MIB type up tempo music for the soundtrack… enter the music publisher. After getting the tip on what the music supervisor is looking for, the publisher scans through their catalogue and submits appropriate material to to him. It’s really that simple. “Why can’t I do that myself?”, you may ask. Well…you can actually. All you have to do is open your own publishing company, register it with your performing rights organization, acquire (create) some great high quality tunes, and know who and where to get the tip info from – and your set! That was the windup – now here’s the pitch: A publisher can/should only submit material that they feel very strongly about, because it is a direct reflection on their artistic judgment and their good business sense. That means that if you are not really jumping up and down about the quality of the material you are about to send to us, chances are that we won’t be either. Please send only your best and highest quality tracks. We cannot return your CD’s. If we like what we hear we will definitely ask for more. If we are not particularly excited about the material you send us, it is NOT NECESSARILY because we think your stuff is crap. It is because we either have enough of your particular genre, the record quality is not up to standard, your current style is not in demand – or, maybe it is just crap. (just joking!)
