A market for songwriters is a record company or publisher that will pay a songwriter for the right to use their songs. The list below includes music publishers, record labels, record companies and other market sources. As Jason Blume explains in an article on BMI, songwriters usually publish and license the rights to their songs - they don't generally sell them outright.

ASCAP: Songwriting Competitions - a list of songwriting competitions available to songwriters.

Complex: 33 Independent Record Labels - An article describing many independent record labels from Complex magazine.

Music Publishers List from MPA - a long list of music publishers from the Music Publishers Association of the United States.

Songwriter Universe: Music Publishers Directory

Songwriter's Market - A guide about where and how to market your songs from Writer's Digest Books.

The Muse's Muse Markets Sources - A collection of market information from Muse's Muse.

SongLink - a tipsheet for music publishers and songwriters.

Wikipedia: U.S. Music Companies - Information about over 35 different U.S.-based music companies.

Wikipedia Record Labels List - A list of record labels provided by Wikipedia.

Writing Contests - Our writing contests page includes a variety of upcoming contests for writers, primarily fiction and poetry contests, but songwriters should also be able to write poetry.