A few quick newbie questions...

[aaronking]

Hello,

New to Taxi and the Forum.

I am currently writing songs across multiple genres hoping for TV and/or Film placements and ultimately placements with established and/or up and coming artists. I may also do some instrumental stuff, though that is not my initial focus.

Having said that, I have a few basic questions:

1. If I co-write with a non-Taxi member, can I still submit through Taxi, or is that problematic?

2. Given that I am mostly writing songs, not instrumentals, when would you recommend I submit for copyright? The slight dilemma is that I would like to submit songs as I write/record them, but would prefer to wait to copyright until I have 8-10 songs so I can submit as an "album" to save money.

3. I know I need to sign with a PRO, but not more than one correct? Of the 3 major ones, BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, is one geared more toward singer/songwriters?

4. I believe I also need to sign with an Admin Company (or Publisher), is that correct?

5. Anything I am missing?

Complete newbie, so appreciate any help.

Aaron

[eeoo]

I'll give it a crack but there's likely more than one answer per question, anyway...

1. Yes you can submit co-writes to Taxi even if you're co-writer is not a member.

2. I personally don't register anything with the copyright office. For my purposes it's not worth the time/energy/money. And if I ever needed it to make a legal claim, from what I understand it will likely cost more to pursue the claim than any reward that might come from winning a court case.

3. From what I understand ascap no longer pays more for vocal placements than instrumental placecments so if you're primarily writing vocal songs it might be worth investigating the current state of affairs as far as that goes.

4. You don't need to sign with a publisher if you're planning on pitching your material yourself but that takes lots of time and persistence and connections. Signing with publishers allows you to use your time making more music in exchange for giving them a piece of your income, usuallly 1/2 of whatever your song earns in the film/television world. Pitching to artists is different but I'm not familiar with that practice so maybe someone else can chime in on that.

5. Yes, you probably are missing plenty of other things but you'll figure them out as they come up.

Hope that helps!

eo

[aaronking]

Thanks for the reply:)

[PeterD]

Good questions, Aaron!

GREAT answers, Ethan!

[andygabrys]

Good questions, Aaron!

GREAT answers, Ethan!

I second that.