The last few decades have been a tumultuous time in music publishing. While plenty of publishers have closed shop, there are also many new avenues for composers to reach audiences with their works. We understand that you may have questions about what Alias Press may have to offer you and how our submission process works.  Hopefully the information below will be helpful, but also feel free to contact us with questions. 

HOW LONG HAS ALIAS PRESS BEEN AROUND?

We first began operations in 2015 as an avenue for publishing the music of Stephen Lias. Two years later, Alias Press was approached by the Theodore Presser Company to suggest that we become one of their affiliated publishers. Since 2017, this fruitful partnership has enabled us to dramatically increase our global distribution through Presser/Fischer’s long-established worldwide retail network. 2023 marked the first year that Alias Press expanded to include other composers, and since then, we have expanded to carry music by over 25 composers (with many more in the pipeline).

DOES ALIAS PRESS TAKE OVER COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP OF ALL ITS PUBLISHED PIECES?

It depends. Our standard contract model does include a transfer of copyright from the composer to Alias Press and this is fairly common among traditional publishing agreements in the United States. What is less common is that we include a reversion clause in each contract, and this ensures that the composer has the ability to get back the rights to their piece after five years if they wish.

But for those who feel strongly about retaining their copyright, we are also open to an alternative contract that accomplishes much the same thing through licensing. When you submit your music to us for consideration, we give you the opportunity to let us know your preference about this.

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF PRINT-MUSIC SALES DOES THE COMPOSER GET?

Most traditional publishers offer between 10% and 15% of the retail price.  Our standard model is to pay composers 35% of our net all net proceeds from print music sales, licensing, or rental of the Work. For digital sales, we pay the composer 50% of our net proceeds. By “net proceeds” we mean the total revenue actually received by Alias Press after any distributor’s share first has been deducted from the retail price of the Work.

If a composer chooses to retain their copyright, then the percentages are 5% lower.

In some cases, composers choose to pass on a significant amount of editorial work to Alias Press in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds. This is usually 10%, but might differ depending on the scope of the work.

HOW OFTEN ARE PAYMENTS MADE?

You may have had publishers in the past who had a high payment threshold of something like $50 which meant that you never received a cent from your work over many years.  We know this can be frustrating, so Alias Press makes distributions every six months no matter how small the amount.  We also provide transparent data on sales quantities.

HOW DOES ALIAS PRESS PROMOTE ITS CATALOG? 

One of the main benefits of our status as an affiliated publisher of Theodore Presser is that it gives us access to their impressive marketing and distribution channels.  All works are listed on their website and promoted through their many activities including email newsletters, conference attendance, etc. Alias Press also regularly exhibits at major conventions like the Midwest Clinic and TMEA, and we work to get appropriate pieces submitted to prescribed music lists.

CAN YOU HANDLE RENTAL MATERIALS?

Yes!  If you have a large work that you want to handle through rental agreements and would like the added prestige of having that managed by the experienced team at Theodore Presser, we can easily make that happen.

WHAT ARE SOME OTHER BENEFITS OF PUBLISHING WITH ALIAS PRESS? 

As a company run by composers, we take a great deal of care to make sure that your music is well edited and printed with engaging cover art and quality paper stock. When possible, we also work with Presser to make digital sales available as well as physical scores. We treat our composers like part of a large family, update everyone regularly, and host get-togethers at some conventions. Most of all, though, we work hard to find the best balance between running a profitable business, and being the publisher we all wish we had had earlier in our careers.

WHO DOES THE EDITORIAL WORK?

If you’ve looked at any of our publications, you know that we place a high priority on well-edited scores printed on good quality paper. One of the ways we keep the composer percentages high is by passing on most of the editing work to the composer. Since most composers are already competent with their notation software, this generally works well. Once we accept a work for publication, we provide the composer with a style guide and ask them to prepare a version of the piece that conforms with our editorial standards. If you would prefer to have this work done for you, we offer editorial services either by up-front payment, or a reduction in the composer's percentage. You are, of course, free to hire someone else to do this work.

WHAT SORT OF MUSIC IS ALIAS PRESS SEEKING TO PUBLISH? 

We are open to all chamber and concert music, whether aimed at educational ensembles or professionals.  Our main priority is currently band, orchestra, and chamber music, but we are also very open to vocal/choral works as well.

WHAT IS YOUR SUBMISSION PROCESS? 

We accept submissions of works for consideration on an ongoing basis.  We will review it and get back with you as quickly as possible.  You can use the link below to submit.

WHAT IS THE TYPICAL TIMELINE FOR RELEASE OF NEW PUBLICATIONS?

There are a lot of factors in deciding when pieces come out. Some genres or instrumentations are best served by coming out a particular times of year, and we use our partnership with Theodore Presser to strategically release pieces on a schedule that will give the piece the best exposure. Works that are released only in digital format often have a shorter timeline, but proofing, cover design, and administrative matters mean that even the fastest release is at least three months from submission to release. If we accept your work for publication, we’ll give you a good-faith estimate on release date before we ask you sign the contract.

CAN I TRANSFER A PIECE FROM ANOTHER PUBLISHER TO ALIAS PRESS?

We don’t ever want to poach a composer from another publisher, but we also know that composers sometimes become dissatisfied with how a piece is performing and wish to initiate a change. We are very open to helping with this. It depends a lot on the current publisher, but it is possible in many situations (often at a cost). If you are considering this, we can help guide you through the process, but we’d first need to see if the piece is a good fit for our catalog, so please use the link below to let us review it.

Let us know if you have any questions!