Songshark is a term for a dishonest
music publisher
A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...
, whose main source of income is the naivete of new
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
s, whom they charge for services a reputable publisher would provide free to their clients.
"Song shark" is the trade name for any individual, or firm who, with the deliberate intention to defraud, solicits business from amateur songwriters, advising them that by having music written to their lyrics, or vice versa, they will have a finished composition which will immediately be "snatched up" by a music publisher. Often, the song shark will himself claim to be a publisher, and will tell the songwriter that his only expense will be in "defraying half the costs of publication."
See also
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Song poem
Song poems are songs with lyrics by usually non-professional writers that have been set to music by commercial companies for a fee. This practice, which has long been disparaged in the established music industry, was also known as ''song sharking ...
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Vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where anyone can pay to have a book published.. The term "vanity press" is often used pejoratively, implying that an author who uses such a service is publ ...
References
General references
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Inline citations
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["Printing Songs for Amateur Writers," '']Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', February 16, 1918, pps
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/ref>
Occupations in music
Jazz terminology
Musical terminology