Howdy question asker. I am by no means an expert. The safest way to go is to copywrite them first. That being said it isn't always a necessity. I know a guy in Nashville who has his own publishing company that I occasionally run a song by. I don't bother copywriting them first, but he's been a friend of the family for years. There are a lot of crooks out there. It's not a good way to do business, but some do. It's a gamble if you don't copywrite it first. It's not always just the publisher you have to worry about. If they should ever play it to someone else for an opinion it runs a risk of being ripped off by that person as well. My dad had one stolen that way once. If you don't know them well, or have any reservations it's best to copywrite first I think. I wrote a theme song for a TV show years ago that never took off. The show had an in-house band, and I knew the guys. The song was copywritten along with the show, so I never had to worry about it - plus it never made any money. Anyway that's the limit of my experience, so as I said, I'm not an expert - just my two cents. Good luck with your songs,

Brad

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