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The Lyri
Sheena in Scotland asks to another party for a fixed almost all of us will never
whether it makes sense to sum, and you’ll never see earn a penny from selling
sell the full copyright to another nickel. our songs. That said, we all
your songs. My response have dreams, and there are
would be a deeply qualified So which, if any, of these legions of Charlatans
maybe. For starters, let’s options make sense? It’s lurking on the internet who
talk about what kinds of obviously better to retain have a very strong interest
rights you might be able to control of your work as long in separating us from our
sell. If you’ve got as possible, so in that sense money. These people know
recordings, you can you’re better off licensing a that our love of music and
obviously sell or stream song if that’s on the table. our desire to gain
your tunes and get paid for But if someone is offering recognition can be a very
that, though not very much you hundreds or even powerful wedge in that
unless you’ve got a thousands of dollars for full process. So my advice is:
mega-hit on your hands rights, it might be hard to Beware of offers that are
(and when you do, you turn down. In the unlikely too good to be true,
probably won’t be seeking event you find yourself in because the probably are.
advice from the Lyrics that situation, you’ll And even offers that seem
Doctor!). certainly want to ask the OK are most often going to
buyer what he or she add up to nothing. If the
If you’ve got lyrics and/or intends to do with the song, initial cost, though, isn’t too
music, you can sell a and ensure that you get high and you’ve got some
license—either single-use credit as the writer, which extra cash you don’t mind
or extended—to companies would allow you to losing, it might be worth a
or groups that might want to capitalize on whatever try. It’s definitely more fun
use your composition in an recognition your work might than a trip to the casino.
ad, TV show, movie, bar receive.
mitzvah, or second The best thing, of course, is
wedding. These options But let’s not get ahead of to simply collect ideas and
allow you to retain control ourselves. Most of us are in write and write and write.
over the song and sell it to this because we love words
others at a later date— and music and storytelling And if you’re not a
giving you continued and the joy of creating musician, either learn some
influence over how it’s something new and guitar, piano, or ukulele or
used. different. And success find someone who is
stories in this business, interested in collaborating.
And finally, you can while real and occasionally A good place to start is with
transfer the entire copyright impressive, are rare. So one of the myriad
