Online Score Sales for Self-Published Composers
How can you get your music in front of the right musicians in a format that makes it easy for them to purchase, download, and start practicing your pieces right away?
Sep 02, 2020
All The Things You Are: Five Suggestions for Composing Your Happiness
A rewarding music career begins with three distinctly non-musical concepts: positive vision, abundant thinking, and a sense of self-worth.
Nov 14, 2007
Making an Asset Out of Your eSelf
It’s never been easier to build fan bases and generate income from our work; your enpixelated interface with the world is where your income generation will often begin.
Apr 09, 2008
Lend Me a Pick Ax: The Slow Dismantling of the Compositional Gender Divide
Women have made tremendous strides toward parity with their male colleagues in the field of composition, but we’re not all the way home just yet.
May 14, 2008
When Entrepreneurship and Artistry Conflict
I don’t think that teaching some basic entrepreneurial skills is by itself a bad thing, but it’s not a cure-all for the difficulties musicians face financially. Perhaps even more troubling, though, is that in promoting certain business practices there doesn’t seem to be a discussion about how they may conflict with artistic pursuits.
Aug 11, 2014
Roundtable: Let’s Make a List
Money has nothing to do with the quality of anyone’s music. That said, for those who choose to put together a living from composing, there are myriad avenues for monetizing one’s output—which can offer both exciting opportunities and an overwhelming career equation to solve.
Apr 14, 2016
DBA: Three Good Notes, Three Necessary Initials
There are two important reasons for a composer to acquire a DBA (“Doing Business As”): one has to do with money, the other with privacy. And if you are doing business under any name other than your own, it’s required by law.
Oct 26, 2005
In Response: You’re an Artist AND an Entrepreneur
No authentic, talented artist is ever going to forget the importance of the quality of the art that they create just because they wish to earn a living from it. Only once an artist has wrangled those ingredients can they attempt to monetize them.
Aug 06, 2014
Musings on the Media
Composers and performers today look to the media (whatever they think that might be) as a conduit between their art and the general public. As digital media and social networks continue to evolve, both the proximity and the fixed boundaries between creators and the media have been affected.
Apr 08, 2015
At the Abyss
“Act,” the final movement of Alex Shapiro’s three-part suite At the Abyss has a freneticism and spontaneity to it that is usually associated with jazz improv, but as far as I can see—Alex features a healthy portion of the score on her website—everything in this trio for piano and two percussionists is completely written out.… Read more »
Jul 11, 2005
Feeling Absolutely Famous: A View from Beijing
An American pianist takes a program of new music from the US to the 2005 Beijing Modern Music Festival.
Oct 19, 2005
Composers & Productivity: The Embodiment of Discomfort
Composers are writing less and less, being fussy, appearing to be artistic cowards. But are they? Haven’t we created an environment where Mozart is cheap and Birtwistle is expensive?
Sep 13, 2006
Playing the Dozens
If we were miraculously transported back to April 1912, we would have a very different view of the previous century than we do now. Imagine it. Just barely twelve years into the 20th century, Elliott Carter and Olivier Messiaen would have been three years old; John Cage would not yet have been born.
Apr 16, 2012
History Repeating: Today’s Net Neutrality Day of Action
Today is a net neutrality day of action! New Music USA is certainly interested in preserving a free and open internet and has filed a comment with the FCC to this effect. Eddy Ficklin outlines what’s at stake–especially for creative artists–and shows you how to submit a comment of your own.
Jul 12, 2017
Widening Inclusion & Visibility
How can we broaden our scope to increase the visibility of the vast amount of music composed by women? At least THREE THOUSAND OF THEM.
Jul 05, 2018
Would you describe yourself as a neo-romantic? Why (not)? 1
Alex Shapiro Photo by Jeremy Davidson I don’t think tonality and overt melody ever left the building, but in some circles they were like a couple of illicit lovers locked in a small broom closet for quite a while. Until very recently, the perceived power in the concert music world came largely from universities, conservatories… Read more »
Sep 01, 2003
As Important as the Printing Press: Net Neutrality and Artists’ Freedom
Our ability to share our creations around the world lies in our access to the necessary portal.
Jan 06, 2010
What I Learned About My Tiny Business From Paramount Pictures
I was invited to testify before the Federal Communications Commission in the fall of 2009 about two issues: digital piracy and rural broadband access. The former, because I am a composer, and the latter, because I am a composer who lives on a small, remote, bridge-less island floating off the coast of the United States who has created and managed her career largely on the internet.
Jan 13, 2010
The Economy of Exposure: Publicity as Payment?
Though recordings are no longer especially financially remunerative in this digital age, there does exist something uniquely valuable and not reproducible: the artists themselves.
Jan 27, 2010
Playing the same old song? Meet the NewMusicJukebox
Need to find a piece for wind quintet written after 1990? Wishing you knew of a new 15-minute chamber suite to round out that perfect program? For those with a need for new music, the ultimate source has arrived on the Internet. Tomorrow…