# Have this idea about scores and lyrics, what do you think of it?
**URL:** https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247
**Category:** MusicBrainz
**Created:** [October 25, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247 "2016-10-25T05:43:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@musicwoman](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/musicwoman)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/1 "2016-10-25T05:43:23Z")
Good morning folks! š
Wouldnāt it be a nice idea to be able to add the full scores to a track? (if available of course) We could upload them in pdf-format, somewhere on MusicBrainz. Same for lyrics of a song.
That way, especially regarding compositions of less well known artists (like me), people - if they like the song/composition - will be able to perform it themselves by downloading the scores and lyrics ā
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### Author:  [@InvisibleMan78](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/InvisibleMan78)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/2 "2016-10-25T06:15:38Z")
I would suggest, just upload your PDF in the cover section of your release and write the type of your content in the comment field for every single uploaded picture or PDF.
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### Author:  [@musicwoman](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/musicwoman)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/3 "2016-10-25T06:26:51Z")
Thatās an idea š
For a single release that indeed is easy.
What about an album release with 12 songs: do you think it is possible to upload 12 separate pdf-files with scores, or do I have to combine them to one file? If thatās the case, I am afraid that file will become too large, over 400 pagesā¦
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### Author:  [@Jim\_DeLaHunt](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Jim_DeLaHunt)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 7:14am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/4 "2016-10-25T07:14:18Z")
If youād like to share your creations with the world, I think that is wonderful. Do make sure that it fits in with your business model. You need to give value to get revenue, but if you give away too much value, you make less revenue later.
But MusicBrainz isnāt the only platform in the world for showing off your creativity.
If you want to publish your scores and lyrics, whereās what Iād suggest.
1. Publish scores and lyrics in a place you control: your website. For instance, make a web page for each album, listing the tracks on the album. For each track, link to a page with lyrics and to a PDF with the score for that song.
2. Select a [Creative Commons licence](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/) which makes it clear what people are welcome to do. Mark each score document and lyrics document or page with this licence. In this way you make your intentions known.
3. Brand your score files and lyrics pages with your branding and a link to your website. That way, even if somebody copies one of your PDF files and hosts it elsewhere, it is still building your brand.
4. Host your score files on a website that specialises in hosting music scores. I recommend the [Petrucci Music Library/IMSLP](http://imslp.org/), and maybe the [Choral Public Domain Library Project (CPDL)](http://www.cpdl.org/). They welcome scores where the composer grants permission for reuse.
5. Host your lyrics on website that specialise in hosting lyrics. I donāt know this part of the web very well. Maybe others can suggest good websites.
6. Use sites like [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/) or [Bandcamp](https://bandcamp.com/) to build a relationship with your fans. Give the lyrics files and score files away as rewards to fans. Or, sell them.
7. Consider making your music scores available as digital scores, in addition to printable PDF files. Digital score formats, like [MusicXML](http://www.musicxml.com/) and [MEI](http://music-encoding.org/), let the recipient revise, reformat, and reuse the notes in the score.
Yes, MusicBrainz should eventually stretch to do more with scores and lyrics. But right now, other places do that better.
I hope those ideas are helpful.
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### Author:  [@aerozol](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/aerozol)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 7:47am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/5 "2016-10-25T07:47:29Z")
> [@InvisibleMan78](#):
>
> I would suggest, just upload your PDF in the cover section of your release and write the type of your content in the comment field for every single uploaded picture or PDF.
I would actually vote against this - the pictures for a release are meant to represent that _specific_ release.
So unless that PDF was included with the release, for instance in the download or in the pages of the printed booklet, I donāt think it should be attached to that release on MB.
Not because I disagree with adding lyrics of course! I just donāt think (currently) thatās the place for it.
If you want a place where people have access to your music and your scores + lyrics, I recommend [Bandcamp](https://bandcamp.com/) also, you can include PDFās with free downloads, or as bonus items with paid downloads, or you can simply write/paste the lyrics for each song into the website for everyone to see. Then you can link the bandcamp page for a release in MB.
I think lyrics are often subject to a lot of (c) issues which is perhaps why MusicBrainz hasnāt officially gone down that road yet/ is probably a bit wary of hosting any? Just btw š
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### Author:  [@InvisibleMan78](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/InvisibleMan78)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/6 "2016-10-25T08:10:22Z")
@Samsom\_Productions Yes you can upload as many PDF files you like. There are already releases with hundres of booklets pages (with lyrics and artist pictures), covers, medium scans, stickers and so on.
But I also support the idea from @Jim_DeLaHunt.
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### Author:  [@musicwoman](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/musicwoman)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 10:28am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/7 "2016-10-25T10:28:05Z")
Thank you @Jim_DeLaHunt, @InvisibleMan78 and @aerozol for your valuable input!
š Jim, you are the best š
Thank you so very much for all your extremely valuable suggestions!! I think I best make a business model first, about if, when and how people can receive PDF-lyrics files and/or MusicXML-scores files (btw that is a great suggestion to offer this format instead of pdf, I did not think of that myself). Selling them sounds good š and giving them as reward to fans also š
But, first of all, I think I need to internationally registrate my copyrights of my lyrics. This is different topic so I make now a new topic.
Thanks guys for all your help!!
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### Author:  [@Freso](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Freso)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/8 "2016-10-25T13:38:05Z")
As a first glance, it seemed like IMSLP was only for scores in the public domain, but then I found this:
> **[IMSLP:Licensing Policy and Guidelines - IMSLP](https://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:Creative_Commons_and_Performance_Restricted_licenses)**
So it seems the work creator can also publish scores to the site under, for example, Creative Commons licenses. This I what I would suggest to do. To quote [Cory Doctorow](http://craphound.com/) (who also happens to be a [MetaBrainz board member](https://metabrainz.org/about)!):
> [@](#):
>
> Now, onto the artistic case. Itās the twenty-first century. Copying stuff is never, ever going to get any harder than it is today (or if it does, itāll be because civilization has collapsed, at which point weāll have other problems). Hard drives arenāt going to get bulkier, more expensive, or less capacious. Networks wonāt get slower or harder to access. If youāre not making art with the intention of having it copied, youāre not really making art for the twenty-first century. Thereās something charming about making work you donāt want to be copied, in the same way that itās nice to go to a Pioneer Village and see the olde-timey blacksmith shoeing a horse at his traditional forge. But itās hardly, you know, _contemporary_. Iām a science fiction writer. Itās my job to write about the future (on a good day) or at least the present. Art thatās not supposed to be copied is from the past.
(From the preamble to his novel ā[Little Brother](http://craphound.com/category/littlebrother/)ā (available for free on his website).)
But eh. Itās your decision to make, and people who work on open source, open data projects are unlikely to be completely unbiased on this matter. š
If you do end up posting the scores to IMSLP, note that you can link the IMSLP pages to the Work entities in MusicBrainz. (And the same for lyrics, if you post your lyrics to [Lyrics Wikia](http://lyrics.wikia.com/) or some of the other [white-listed lyrics sites](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Relationships/URLs/Lyrics_whitelist).)
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### Author:  [@musicwoman](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/musicwoman)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2016, 8:28am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/have-this-idea-about-scores-and-lyrics-what-do-you-think-of-it/161247/9 "2016-10-26T08:28:51Z")
Thank you @Freso for your excellent suggestions! Probably, in future, I will end up at Creative Commons licenses if I still want to publish my scores š So then people can use my scores for perfoming or other purposes, provided they mention that the scores are an original work by me. That is a good idea!