Q&A for How to Publish Your Music

You can start a YouTube channel and upload your music to it. Depending on how much of a following you develop, you may be able to make money from ads on your videos.

You can still follow most of these steps but you'll need your parent or legal guardian to sign the federal papers for a copyright. I would also ask their permission before putting anything up on online.

Absolutely. The earlier you start, the better. According to contract law you must be at least 18 years of age to publish songs. You would need to have your parent or guardian assume legal responsibility in order to do this. This is typically accomplished through an attorney or manager.

Yes, it is a good idea to copyright your music.

To protect a song, you copyright it. Usually, production companies own the copyrights of songs. For example, John Fogerty v. Fantasy Inc. was a case where Fogerty was sued after releasing a song under Warner Brothers that sounded like another song he released under Fantasy.

This depends on the publisher's policies. Try finding a publisher first, and if you cannot, then self-publish.

Talk it over with your parents and have them seek out legal counsel and an agent.

Download a music recording software, then record your own music. Burn the tracks if you have a CD burner at your house. If not, find a friend who has one.

Google Play, iTunes, or if you're an instrumental composer, then Musescore is also very good, though you will not make money through it.

Maybe if you publish it on online. But you have to know the right people. If you don't know anyone who is in a publishing industry, then talk with your parents.

It depends on the company. It might take up to a few months. Doing it yourself would be faster.

Only if you become outrageously famous because of it. But that doesn't happen for most young songwriters, singers, or musicians, and if it did, you could figure out how to handle it then.

Pro Tools is the industry standard. Logic, Garage Band, Reaper, Studio One, Cubase, and Reason are all good options as well.

Yes.

Entire songs are copyrighted. A lyric or a line is not normally enough unless it is a very unique line or lyric/phrase.

Yes, you can.

You can use websites like Distrokid. They will distribute your music to all major music streaming services like iTunes, Spotify, Google Music, etc. You do have to pay a $20 fee per year, but you get all the royalties.

Download music recording software, and get instruments if possible. Write the lyrics and practice the song.

Usually songs on the radio are 2-4 minutes long, but if you feel like your song is great, and you don't need to add anything, leave it as it is.

Yes, although there may need to be a parent involved to assist the minor with anything that involves terms, policies and contracts.

Yes, many do this. In fact, copyright is set in place the moment the song is in tangible form. The registration is needed to exercise your legal rights to sue in the event your copyright is infringed on.

If you are the sole creator of the music, then you are also the publisher by default until you appoint the publishing to a third party. So: 1. Create the music; 2. Register the music with a pro in your country; and 3. Release/Promote your music. Congrats, you're now a self publisher.

Music distribution is the business of collecting royalties for sound recordings (recordings of songs) Music publishing is the business of collecting royalties for compositions (songs written).

Yes, that is quite possible. One thing you want to look into is a publisher or third party that helps with collecting micro syncs.

Create good music, reach out to publishers that represent your genre of music. If they're interested, they'll reply. If you don't feel comfortable reaching out to publishers, hire a manager or agent to do it for you.

Yes, although there may need to be a parent involved to assist the minor with anything that involves terms, policies and contracts.

Both are good, but picking one or the other greatly depends on your 'end goal'.