Merit -  I've got a couple of arrangements under license with Hal Leonard and dozens of others with other copyright holders/administrators.  Here's how I've gone about it.

 

1.  Create, but do not distribute, your arrangement.  Do a little research about other arrangements of the same piece in the marketplace, so that you can tailor your arrangement to a need that isn't filled in the marketplace.  (E.g., no treble version of this piece; or no men's version.)  If your arrangement doesn't have something to offer that isn't offered by others, you'll get a rejection.  (You can contact the copyright holder/administrator before making your arrangement, asking "What are you looking for?"  This almost never works, because you're asking someone to research their presence in the marketplace for an untested novice who may or may not be any good.  Better in my view to create something lovely as your entree.)

 

2.  Locate the name and contact information for the copyright holder or copyright administrator (Hal Leonard is usually an administrator).  ASCAP's web site is helpful, but not exhaustive.  Google the piece and you'll run into some sheeet music on the inter-net that will give you copyright information at the bottom of the first page.

 

3.  If you can get hold of the copyright owner's/administrator's web-site, you can contact them by e-mail.  Otherwise, "snail mail."  Send them a very crisp, "engraver's" quality score and an .mp3 of the music.  Most notation software has some orchestra-to-.mp3 capability (with me, Finale/Garritan).  It's OK for instruments to stand in for voices on the choral parts.  The .mp3 should sound as nice as possible, but these guysand gals are pros and can hear good music, even if played on garbage cans.  Short communications; no special pleading or explanation.  They more they have to read, the less attention your work will get.

 

4.  Keep a very accurate record of what you've sent out, when and to whom, to avoid duplicate mailings later on.

 

5.  If they say yes, then they'll tell you so and tell you word-for-word what acknowledgements must be stated in the score.  The copyright holder/administrator will also tell you its royalty terms for the deal (so many cents a copy and whether an up-front payment for, say, 1,000 copies is required).

 

6.  After inserting the required acknowledgement, you look for a publisher, again sending the score and an .mp3..  Very often the copyright holder/adminstrator (e.g., Hal Leonard) is the best prospect; any other publisher's profits will be diminished by the royalty due the copyright holder/administrator.  In a bad economy, the choral publication industry is gasping on tiny margins with little capital.  Often an offer to publish will come from the copyright holder/administrator at the same time permission is given.

 

6.  Do consider writing your own stuff, both music and lyrics.  I'm often compelled to arrange a piece, particularly where the original holds a lot of unrealized promise.  But I consider arranging as a way to flex my music muscles so that I can compose.

 

7.  Don't be discouraged by rejections.  In this bad economy, there will be plenty of them.  I got a ton of rejection letters from John K. at Oxford University Press:  first they were form letters; later on they were personalized "I'm sorry" letters.  We even started exchanging Christmas cards.  Consider looking into starting your own company to publish you own work, both as hard copy scores and over the inter-net.  See my web-site, www.musicbyglade.com, where I sell my works as published by other companies and as published by my own company (Park Music Publishers).  With self-publishing, you usually start with local sales among people you know, and grow by word-of-mouth from there.

 

8.  Not much money in it, but mountains of satisfaction.  If composition is in your blood, you'll be compelled to do it.

 

9.  Santa Barbara Music publishes a "how to get published" book.  Save your money.  Try to make contacts in different publishers and with other composers/arrangers and you'll learn more.  You'll be surprised how generous other composers are with their time and you'll pick up some wonderful friends.

 

These suggestions are for arrangements.  The rules are a little different for original compositions.  As to those, feel free to contact me through my web-site if you're interested.

 

Good luck -

 

Steve Glade (ASCAP)