I’ve been looking for a while now for a safe and efficient way to make my sheet music available to those friends and fans who want to own it. In years past, when people wrote to me asking for sheet music, I’d usually send them a .pdf of the song, which they would then be able to print out on their own computers. In light of all the piracy issues I’ve been fighting, it has been suggested to me that perhaps sending out .pdfs of my copyrighted material and trusting that everyone would play by my rules has not been as effective as I’d hoped.

There are a lot of my colleagues who have on-line sheet music stores based from their websites. I toyed with setting up something like this, but I realized even if you manage to set up an effective system for selling your music directly from your website, you still have to maintain the store. I don’t have the time, the inclination, or the technical savvy to do that. I’d much rather be writing lyrics. What I love about having my songbook available through Hal Leonard is that it’s out in the world and I never have to think about it.

My hero arrived in the form of www.musicnotes.com. It’s a completely above-board, legal sheet music downloading website with a keen interest in being a part of the Broadway scene. You find the song you want, you purchase it, you print it out instantly in your own home, using your own computer and printer. In addition to my songs, they’ve got lots of material from my friends and colleagues Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, Jeremy Schonfeld, and tons of songs from your favorite Broadway shows and movie musicals. (Also, they sell pop songs, Christmas songs, country, folk, jazz… you name it.) I am happy to be in such great company.

You can find it all by clicking HERE. This week launched the release of sheet music for my song cycle ALPHABET CITY CYCLE (piano/vocal parts and violin parts sold separately). As early as next week I will have three more titles available, including “My Lifelong Love,” “Sing Me A Happy Song” and “At Christmas.” It is my goal to add at least one new piece of sheet music every month, and I’ll always announce here when something new is available.

So please, take a look, and if you’re shopping for sheet music, make the effort to get it the proper (translation = LEGAL) way. Thanks so much.

(If you can’t find what you’re looking for at musicnotes.com, you may want to try these other legal sites, as well.)
www.sheetmusicplus.com
www.sheetmusicdirect.com
Hal Leonard

Meanwhile…
Here are some other musical theater songwriters you should know. Check out their fabulous online music stores!

Deborah Abramson
Scott Alan
Jeff Blumenkrantz
Bobby Cronin
Jonathan Reid Gealt
Amanda Green
Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk
Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond
Dan Lipton
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

(Who else should I be including on this list?)