: Re: How could I share my lyrics? I've been writing lyrics for quite sometime now (at-least five years). Although there have been several of those moments when I've thought I'd have an act for music

@Samaraweera193

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Whether to give away or sell your work depends on your resources and the goals you have for your work. Here is how I would approach the situation were I in your place:

I'd release my best work under a Creative Commons by-sa or by-sa-nc license.

This helps your work gain exposure, and gives something to the community, without sacrificing ownership of your work. With a by-sa (attribution, share-alike) license, others may use your work in any way that they like but if they use it to create another work (say, they record a performance that uses your lyrics), they must release it under the same terms you did -- AND give you credit in a manner you have specified. This way, every use of your work gains you exposure, and you can in turn use, for example, the melody someone else wrote to go with your lyrics (just give them credit).

Additionally, you still own your work, so if someone would like to use it on different terms (like a company wishing to use it in a product they will not release under Creative Commons) they must receive specific permission from you (and, if you like, payment of some kind that you negotiate).

If you are against any use of your work for profit without specific permission/payment, you can instead opt for the by-sa-nc (attribution, share-alike, non-commercial) license. This is similar to the by-sa license above, except that any for-profit use requires specific permission from you.

Once it's released, I'd promote the heck out of it.

The Creative Commons site and your friends here at writers.SE can offer great tips on specifics. Just do whatever you can to become more visible. This can lead to paid licensing of your existing work, commissions to do new work, opportunities to market non-cc-licensed work, or just a beer from an appreciative user of your stuff every now and again. Either way, in my humble opinion, getting it out there is better than keeping it in a drawer.

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