A. Yes. It’s expected throughout the industry that a song will be shopped to as many professionals as possible until it gets signed to an exclusive deal, which would no longer allow the song to be shopped in the future for a set number of years, or if its a non-exclusive deal, the song can be continuously shopped to new interested parties.
2. Q. Do I need sheet music for submissions?
A. No. When shopping songs, it’s always a good idea to have them professionally recorded, mixed and mastered. If you’re just a lyric writer, then you need to find a recording artist who is willing to record the songs for you. This can be done on a work for hire situation so the recording artist does not receive any ownership over the song.
3. Q. How do you protect songs from being stolen?
A. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t happen as often as people think. However, it does happen and you want to be protected in case something ever does go wrong. As copyright is concerned, you automatically own that as soon as you finish a song or lyrics in any form: on paper, recorded on tape, computer or any other form. That’s true whether or not you ever register it with the copyright office. Registration does expand legal remedies in case you ever have to sue for infringement, but registration in itself isn’t necessarily proof that you own the song. However, it's in the best interest of any recording artist to register each one of their songs with the copyright office at the Library of Congress.
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