The most meaningful way to encourage more people to want to be a composer is by regularly purchasing and performing music by living composers. Further, when you support music literacy and purchase music for yourself and your performers, you help build an environment where composers can make a living. For composing to be sustainable as a career path, the math must work – composers need to earn a living, or fewer people will choose that career.
Commissioning or purchasing a work by a living composer has additional benefits, as it also supports other music-related jobs, including engravers, editors, printers, warehouse workers, studio musicians, recording technicians, rights administrators, publishers, and music retailers. Activities that diminish an attractive financial environment for choosing composition as a career include the extensive performance of public domain music, teaching by rote, illegal file sharing, and photocopying of music. The resources below provide more information on composer and publishing issues:
American Composers Forum
Commissioning by Individuals: https://composersforum.org/resources/commissioning-by-individuals/
Music Publishers Association of the United States:
I Made It. I Own It. Please Don’t Steal It. Encouraging and Respecting Creative Work (Elementary Lesson Plan): http://imadeit.org/
Copyright and You: A Guide for College Music Students
Advanced High School and Collegiate 50-minute Copyright Presentation
http://vimeo.com/341371339?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749
PowerPoint slides available through: https://www.mpa.org/resources-for-educators/