Many professional songwriters do not copyright songs until they begin earning income. The reason is both cost and time involved.  Non-professionals often copyright their songs due to fear of infringement (their songs being stolen). Again, this can be expensive, but if it makes you feel comfortable, you can always exercise that option by visiting http://www.copyright.gov/

For anything NSAI related, unless otherwise specified, a clean guitar-vocal or piano-vocal is what we encourage because a writer is more apt to rewrite or tweak a song if he/she hasn’t invested hundreds of dollars into a demo. You should always seek multiple opinions on the song via evaluations, etc. before considering investing in a full-band demo to determine whether the song is competitive enough to warrant the expense. Professional songwriters don’t demo every song they write and the ones they do demo are the ones they know their publishers will want to pitch. Great songs are going to stand out regardless of the demo.

Yes! You can choose to use your credits however you please. Some people send 12 different songs to one Song Evaluator, while some choose to get as many different opinions on one song as possible. Remember, each submission will be heard and reviewed by ONE Song Evaluator at a time. If you’d like a second, third, fourth opinion, please submit your song again separately. Each submission uses one Song Evaluation credit. We encourage you to try out several songs with several different evaluators to best help you grow in your craft!

No. But, if you submit your songs for evaluation on or before your expiration date, the credits used will be from your current membership year! However, you will NOT lose any credits until your original expiration date if you choose to renew your membership early.

Yes! Make sure you specify which evaluator, by number, in the submission process. We will always do our best to honor your request.

Accidents happen! No problem. Reach out to [email protected] who can help you get it resolved.

You may submit as often as you like as long as you have available credits!

Yes, each submission uses an evaluation credit.  The new version of your song will automatically be sent to the evaluator that originally listened to your song to review the changes made.

Click here to purchase additional Song Evaluation credits!

Mail the following to 1710 Roy Acuff Place, Nashville TN, 37203:

Self Addressed and Stamped Envelope.

Eval_Consent_Form.pdf. (PDF File ONLY)
Lyric sheet.
Music on a CD (we are unable to accept cassette tapes).  

This is a preventative legal measure to protect our not-for-profit status. Some writers are known to frequently “sue” publishers for copyright infringement which means, right or wrong the publisher or organization has to hire an attorney to contest. As a not-for-profit trade association for songwriters, we must eliminate any possibility of expensive legal lawsuits when applicable. Also, we receive songs from all over the country that often have the same titles, subject matter, and sometime very similar lyrics. This clause is required by our attorneys in that our Song Evaluators are contracted pro writers who are listening and offering their years of experience to our members, not our staff. Other outside sources may also hear our members’ music during our promotional efforts such as the NSAI Top 40 In Honor Of Bob Kingsley. This allows us to promote the members music outside of the evaluation system without legal ramifications. This is a preventative measure only. If and when your song is selected for any kind of playlist or is chosen for anything outside of the Song Evaluation Service, we will be in contact with you to discuss permissions.

The online service may take up to 15 business days to be returned. If a specific evaluator is requested, the turnaround time may take up to 30 business days. The mail in service can take up to 30 days.

Please note that the turnaround time is longer around holidays when our offices are closed or during events (such as Song Camp, RISE, and Tin Pan South).

Online Evaluations will be sent back to you by e-mail and can be viewed on your Member Dashboard.

Mail in evaluations will be returned to you by mail, as long as you included a posted return envelope with your package.

Our Song Evaluators are a carefully selected group of professional songwriters trained to keep you growing as a songwriter. Their genre specialties range from country to jazz to pop and rock. They remain anonymous in part to ensure that you are receiving real, honest feedback. What do they have to gain or lose by telling you the truth about your song? These professionals are also actively pursuing their own careers in music, and to protect all involved, our trusted Song Evaluators remain anonymous. Your identity is also protected.

Absolutely. We do our best to honor those requests, but we aren’t always able to. Evaluators are real people and take time off for vacation and their own projects. If your requested Song Evaluator(s) are unavailable, your song will be assigned to the next available Song Evaluator based on the genre of the song.

When you convert your audio file into a .mp3 file, there are several different compression rate options to make the file smaller. For Song Evaluations, we ask that all files be converted at 128 kbps or less. Smaller files make it faster for you to upload your song when you submit to us. Below is a breakdown of the different compression rates and how they affect the overall size of the file and upload transfer time.

A 3-minute song is about 31MB as an uncompressed audio or wave (.wav) file
Estimated upload transfer time
56k- 80.6 minutes
128k ISDN - 37.2 minutes
Cable/DSL - 15.5 minutes

File converted to mp3 at 64kbps is 1.57MB
Estimated upload transfer time
56k- 4.082 minutes
128k ISDN - 1.88 minutes
Cable/DSL - 0.79 minutes

File converted to mp3 at 128kbps is 3.15MB
Estimated upload transfer time
56k- 8.19 minutes
128k ISDN - 3.78 minutes
Cable/DSL - 1.58 minutes

File converted to mp3 at 192kbps is 4.73MB
Estimated upload transfer time
56k- 12.30 minutes
128k ISDN - 5.68 minutes
Cable/DSL - 2.37 minutes

Please submit your audio as an .mp3 or .m4a file. We do not accept the following audio files: Windows Media files (.wma), Itunes (.mpeg4) or CD Audio files (.cda)

No. Evaluators do not judge the production. A simple instrument/vocal is sufficient for NSAI's Song Evaluation Service. Please try to limit any background distractions (phone ringing, dog barking, people talking) from your audio file.

A song marked as “Ones to Watch” is any song that stands out to the evaluator as a unique idea, an outstanding song, or a song that is ready to be pitched.

Your name and hometown will appear on the EARS newsletter that is distributed monthly.