I've Spent 10,000+ Hours Over the Last Two Years Publishing My Own Songs
I've spent 10,000-plus hours over the past two years refining my process to release my own music. Here are nine tips that will help you protect, own, and release your own songs, music, or poems so that you can make your own money and be independent:
When you record your music, song, or poem, make sure not to share it online anywhere at any point in time until you have copyrighted your material.
You can copyright your material at the US Copyright Office. Go to copyright.gov to start the process and set up your account.
If you're producing a song or a poem and it's audio, of course, make sure that you embed codes in the mastering process so that every time the song or poem is played on the radio or on TV, it tracks back to your special code. These are ISRC codes.
Go to https://usisrc.org to find out how you can get your own ISRC codes.
You don't have to get your ISRC code before you send your song or poem to the copyright office, just as an FYI. ISRC codes are put at the very end of the process after you've approved the mastering of a song or poem.
Once you have the ISRC codes embedded, even before you've published it or before you've sent it to a publisher, you can now share your songs with your friends.
The best source to release your songs or poem is tunecore.com. Go to tunecore.com, and you can upload your songs and make sure you keep a record of your ISRC codes.
You can get your barcode on TuneCore as well, or you can get your own bank of gtins by going to GS1. If you're in the United States, it's GS1 US. This is the company that manufactures and produces all the barcodes for every product that's on a shelf. This is not the same organization that produces barcodes for book publishing.
Finally, take a look at where you should publish. Do you want to use a performing rights organization like ASCAP or BMI? Either of these organizations does the exact same thing. I am a publisher and a songwriting member of ASCAP. These steps will actually help you release and produce your own material. This is the work that I've been doing over the last several years.
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