My songs

Are my property. They're about as valuable as a house. I mean, even without my help, people were shopping around those songs and getting huge offers. Problem was that they treated me like some rock star, rather than a professional composer. Like, that's really not a joke. These Words Are Meant For Someone is the kind of score that people would actually buy: a well-formatted PV (piano-vocal) score that allows them to sing the arias as audition songs.

And there's a whole catalogue of other songs that could be a second book. Musicals are lucky like that. It's basically the only field where people buy scores*, though obviously my point of difference is that I grew up with the Internet and amassed a huge library of PDFs. *Particularly if some big fish buys it, and puts it in all the few remaining places that sell sheet music. That's my vision for These Words Are Meant For Someone. -

Something I learned when Boardwalk Empire was on the air was that sheet music sales peaked in the 1920's. It's one thing to talk about regular literacy, but music literacy rates have completely plummeted, and that's taken a bite into how lucrative publishing rights were for previous generations of composers. Difference between being a talented composer and a dilettante...

My guitar pieces are also pieces that people have some interest in publishing. Matthew Marshall wanted to publish The Ill-Made Knight, but I've followed up and haven't gotten a reply. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to make some money as a composer, though I doubt that I could make a living off it unless I also wrote film scores. I actually insist that the classical music community listen up and take notice that I'm boycotting performances and boycotting venues and institutions largely because I'm extremely angry that they haven't considered buying my songs or buying my script. They want me to be a rock star: I'm telling them that it's unhealthy for me to be so, and that the items of value are original compositions that they've gotta licence to use. Again, I won the copyright war --- this is an extension of that. Now that we agree that my scripts and songs are my property, it's also fair to expect them to give up on their plans of watching me do all my hits at a gig and ripping me off. If people can only find ways to help me that involve me performing for them and being the mascot that brings in the tourist dollars, then they're really not trying hard enough.

How about funding my gender minorities documentary?