Your first song release
by Bianca Fachel
1. Start locally
Share your work with community radio, local papers. Apply for grants in your local Arts Office.
2. Become a member of IMRO
The Irish Music Rights Organisation are in place to ensure artists receive royalties from their music being
- publicly performed live
- broadcasted
- made available online
Membership is free with lots of artist supports.
Visit IMRO’s website, and if you need anything else that is not covered in the website do call them, they will help you out.
3. Copyright is automatic when you write & publish a song online.
In Ireland (and under the Berne Convention), copyright exists automatically upon creation and fixation. Publishing online simply provides readily accessible, dated evidence of that creation, which is invaluable if you ever need to defend your ownership.
4. Digital Distributors get your music onto streaming services
5. A stream counts when someone listens for 30 seconds
6. Some platforms don’t give you a fixed amount per stream
Spotify, for example, pays you based on how many times your song is listened to compared with bigger songs.
7. Connect with other artists.
Sharing your experiences with like-minded people is important – it is challenging working solo on a passion project.
Other artists can also provide new opportunities, like collaborations.
8. Make sure your day job is related to music
Starting off, you’ll likely need to make money elsewhere. Try to ensure your day job is related to music. Maybe it’s in a venue, or somewhere that gives you inspiration for your art. Again, being surrounded by like-minded people is important. It takes time, but if you plant seeds day by day you will certainly have a nice harvest!
