Welcome to the NewMusicShelf Family!

I’m excited to have you aboard!

Here’s some information on what you need to get up and selling your scores as quickly as possible:

Photo

Your photo is a major tool in connecting with performers looking for new works to perform. Consequently, it will be used widely throughout the site – on the site’s composer listing page, on your own individual composer page, and in the composer tab for each of your works – so it’s important to have a good one that’s formatted to the right size.

NMS has settled on 800×1200 pixels as the standard size for composer photos, so please format your photo to these dimensions (or at least that aspect ratio). You can upload your photo to the Vendor Dashbaord under Store Settings -> Shop Front.

Bio

Your bio is another tool for connection, and will be on your composer page, and on the composer tab for each of your works. Keep it short (less than 200 words is ideal), and keep it interesting!

You can upload your bio to the Vendor Dashbaord under Store Settings -> Shop Front in the “Shop Description” field.

PayPal Address

NewMusicShelf pays its composers on a monthly basis through PayPal. In your Vendor Dashboard, go to Store Settings -> Billing, and add the email address of your PayPal account. (Don’t enter bank details – I don’t want those!)

That’s It!

With those things out of the way, you’re ready to get going! Feel free to fill out the remaining fields on your Shop front dashboard so that I have your up-to-date contact information. (Your social media profiles will also be shared on your composer page.)
 

Uploading Your Works

For detailed, step-by-step instructions on uploading your works, consult this page. There is also a link to the page on the works submission screen.

Here’s what you’ll need to have handy to upload a work:

Requirements

Title
Year Composed
Short Description (this is described in more detail on the instructions page)
Cover Image
Score file(s) – Scores and parts should be formatted as PDFs, and can be bundled as ZIPs
Price – you set your own! Just keep it over $1.99.

Not Required, but it will help with sales

Audio – you can embed audio from SoundCloud
Video – you can embed video from YouTube of Vimeo
Perusal Score – you can embed a perusal score from Issuu
Duration
Instrumentation
Author of text(s)
Names of Movements/Songs
Program Note

While these aren’t required to submit a work, they go a LONG way toward making a potential buyer trust you. It helps a ton if they can hear or see a performance of the piece, and to see the quality of the score. Duration and instrumentation are super important because buyers are looking for something that fits their specific instrument or ensemble and the type of program they’re putting together.

Enter as much information as possible. You may think it’s a pain in the ass, but put yourself in a buyer’s shoes: You’re looking for something for your flute/viola/percussion trio, and it can’t be over 10 minutes long because you’ve already got the rest of the program figured out. What are you going to respond to: a page that’s fully fleshed-out with everything you need to know to make a decision, or a page that has no information except for the year it was composed and “for chamber trio”?