It is such a joy to be able to share my music with others and hear from them that it is enjoyable, beautiful, unique, inspiring, and even educational. Most people who are creative want to produce something that is an expression of themselves and appreciated by others. But, once it’s created (creative content), how do you get it out to the public? This is known as publishing and distribution, a topic I’m covering this month in my Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution class at Full Sail University. It is rare that anyone would create something just for his or her own enjoyment. Usually, they want to share it with others. This is certainly what I want to do with my music.
Creative content is anything that you create whether it is music, art, software, a book, a TV show, an APP, curriculum, or a poem. If you created it, it is considered your creative content. First, it is important to protect your creation through copyright registration. With songwriting, once a song has been written down, it is copyrighted and published. But, you can choose to hire a publishing organization or songwriting agent to get it to the public or you can self-publish your creation in getting it out to the public. The Harry Fox Agency is the leading provider of rights management, licensing, and royalty services for the U.S. music industry and was established in 1927 by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) as an agency to license, collect, and distribute royalties on behalf of musical copyright owners.
When I write a song and feel it is something I’d like to share with others, I put it on an album (recording it myself), copyright the album as a work, protect it through BMI (a Performing Rights Organization), publish it myself by making copies of the album through Disk Makers and distributing it digitally and physically through CD Baby. Disk Makers is known as a Print-On-Demand (POD) company that enables me to make as many copies as I’d like. Because I’m publishing it myself, I have more control. CD Baby distributes my digital recordings on iTunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, Amazon, and others. I also distribute my recordings, music books and other products through my website (heartfeltmusic.org) and digitally through Gumroad.com (an aggregator). I may not have the breadth of distribution an outside company would have, but I love the personal and immediate connecting I have to the people listening to my music. Plus, I’m saving money by not paying a middle-man.
Check out my songs on CD Baby and iTunes! Please, leave a comment if you have any questions on getting your own creative content out to the public.
