How do I get my music out there?

Hi guys Ive been composing since I was small but I've only just got serious about my compositions. I can read music and I use Sibelius 7 to write down my music. I'd really like to show the world my music and collaborate with others over the internet, but I'm not sure how.

Any advice?

Being part of this website is a good start.  You can also set up a youtube or soundcloud account.  Don't expect to have a million followers, or get a ton of feedback, but if you keep putting your music out there, people will slowly start to find it.  Put yourself in the places where opportunities are likely to come from, and opportunities will start to show up.  Try finding some other composers who work on the type of music you like, but are just starting to be noticed by the world, and see what they have been doing for the last five or ten years.  Listening to interviews about what they have been doing before they got noticed can be a good way to be sure you're on the right path.  You can look for patterns...  did they all go to the same music school?  Did they all study something in particular?  How did they get their very first piece performed?  How did their publisher find out about them?  Here's an interview with Kim Andre Andersen, who is just starting to get recognized worldwide, but who is still pretty young, talking about his music education and how he started composing and sharing his music with people:  

I give the same advice to everyone. Find a teacher. Any kind of teacher. The rest will fall into place.

Thanks this helps :)

Well one way to get your music "out there" is to literally throw the scores out the window, which will instantly make you popular and attractive to hipsters as this can be disguised as some elaborate political statement on the nature of art and the human condition.

or you can get fined for littering.

Alternatively just do what everyone else does, talk to other people about it, post stuff to youtube and other popular websites and die alon---become a very famous composer!

2 hours ago, SSC said:

Well one way to get your music "out there" is to literally throw the scores out the window, which will instantly make you popular and attractive to hipsters as this can be disguised as some elaborate political statement on the nature of art and the human condition.

 

or you can get fined for littering.

 

Alternatively just do what everyone else does, talk to other people about it, post stuff to youtube and other popular websites and die alon---become a very famous composer!

 

I think I see now how you have such a high reputation score. Your sense of humor is interesting and fun.

How you get your music out there is the easy part. Youtube and social media will practically do it for you.
Whether or not it does anything is basically random. Even connections don't always make it happen. Cross your fingers. 

Thanks:)

JoeViola, 

Just my two cents, but asking how to spread your music is a lot like asking how artists spread their paintings, or poets spread their poetry. What advice would you give them?  Go to where people are paying for music: high school bands, film and tv producers, be creative!

Here in Orlando, we have an outdoor shopping mall called Disney Springs where musicians are paid by Disney to perform covers of seasonal or trendy music, and so they build an audience pretty quickly. Imagine if all those musician's new fans went to his site and found his original compositions?  What a great way to introduce people to your music.   

How about the composer who transcribes music for recent films and sells them to middle-school bands who want to play selection from Moana, or whatever other movie kids like. His fans (school band directors) will definitely stumble upon his originals, as well. 

Understand that people generally don't search very hard for new music. If you want them to hear what you've written, you might have to bait them into listening with something they DO want (covers/soundtrack transcriptions). 

Good luck. :-)

Upload yourself playing to a YouTube channel, and/or use GPO with your score as the "video" on YouTube, then also upload a "clickbait piece" (something very popular but similar genre to what you are writing) to get people there. That is one way to get it "out there".

How to make a living off of it? It just has to fall into place. There is one composer I am rather close to who makes a living off composing. This wasn't their plan in the beginning. Some group in another country ran across their music and typically includes at least one of the pieces in each of their performances, and it took off from there (this composer hasn't even met anyone in this group).

This composer also had friends and colleagues record an album of their works, the composer presented it to their circles of composers, and it was nominated for a Grammy of all things! I find this person completely inspiring!

There is another composer I know who just wanted to be a middle school orchestra director. Twenty years later he is writing music for students that is being performed all over the world, piece after piece. He's even invited to travel the world to see the students play his music. It's amazing and was never his plan 20+ years ago.

But it seems to be like dating; it will happen when you aren't looking for it.