The August 2023 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Perspectives on Traditional Choral Publishing” by Dan Forrest. Following is a portion from the article.
_________________
“How should I publish?” is one of the most common questions asked by choral composers today. The traditional publishing route of transferring ownership and receiving traditional royalty rates may seem outdated; retaining ownership and receiving higher royalty rates via self-publishing (whether independently or through one or more of the available marketplaces/collectives) offers an intriguing alternative, especially in the internet age where composers can connect directly to customers. Some may wonder if traditional publishing is past its prime, and whether the whole industry is heading toward self-publishing.
Yet many widely known and respected composers still work with traditional publishers. Full disclosure: I operate in both worlds, publishing my sacred/church anthems with Beckenhorst Press (where I also serve as vice president of publications and editor) but self-publishing my concert choral works through The Music of Dan Forrest.
It may surprise some to hear that J. W. Pepper, who sells music by thousands of self-publishers under their My Score service, still recommends that composers work with traditional publishers whenever possible. According to Kathy Fernandes, Pepper’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer:
We witness the benefits publishers provide composers as good stewards of their works. We believe every composer grows through honest professional feedback for the piece submitted and to wisely build their future portfolio of works, and certainly benefit from the established business practices…and services publishers provide.
Both traditional publishing and self-publishing have helpful roles, and we’re all in this together! This article was created with input from the editors and owners of several traditional publishers and will discuss the services and benefits that traditional publishers provide, examine the drawbacks of traditional publishing, identify traits of a good publisher, and offer composers practical suggestions on publishing from our vantage points.
___
Read the full article in the August 2023 issue of Choral Journal. acda.org/choraljournal
As the creator of the MusicEase music notation editor and publisher of the Christian Virtual Hymnal, I have a unique perspective on the world of traditional choral publishing. I am particularly interested in one aspect: how compositions are presented to the public.
I have found traditional publishers generally unwilling to consider/risk changing how they provide music. They still publish on physical paper, or as a pdf or MusicXML file. (Self publishers also generally have no other choice.)
The disadvantages of publishing music as static pieces of physical paper, or as a pdf or MusicXML file are many: the music cannot be transposed, parts cannot be extracted, verses cannot be re-arranged or deleted or exported, the music cannot be re-sized/reformatted, etc. There is no inherent reason music must be published in such forms.
The approach MusicEase Software uses is to publish a composition encoded digitally that works with our “virtual song” app. Our virtual song technology can digitally transform a single instance of a piece of music in a multitude of different ways, including all of the above-mentioned ways and specifically can transpose it (true transposition) to any key, up or down. (The vast majority of the customers of our Christian Virtual Hymnal use it mainly for its ability to transpose hymns.)
The advantages of publishing not just choral music but all music as virtual songs are obvious. But the mindset of most publishers is fixed and not forward looking.
An exception was Integrity Music, a publisher of Praise-Worship music. Philip Manwaring, Integrity’s Chief Technology Officer with an engineering background, had the technical understanding to see that transposable sheet music would be a very useful aspect of Integrity’s music. For over 10 years, starting in 1998 until about 2009 when the then Integrity Music basically went defunct, transposable, customizable sheet music functionality was available for a large part of their catalog and readily welcomed by their customers.
In conclusion, traditional publishers are mired in the past with regards to this aspect of publication, much to the detriment of their customers. They need to invest in technologies providing flexibility akin to that discussed above.