Your Back Catalogue
Year after year, you will collect songs that do not get released. Professional songwriters typically crank out somewhere between 100-200 songs per year while only securing a few cuts. For better and for worse, you will end up with a large back catalogue of songs.
Later down the road, this back catalogue can be extremely valuable, especially if you become an upper echelon songwriter. Universal Music Group's acquisition of Bob Dylan's entire catalogue amounted to $300 million for the singer songwriter. Paul Simon sold his catalog for $250 million to Sony Music Publishing. Hillary Lindsay, who has co-penned multiple country number ones and Lady Gaga's "Million Reasons," also earned a sizeable chunk from the sale of her back catalog sale to Concord. Obviously, creating a robust and well-maintained catalog of songs can be a great long term play for any songwriter.
Though it can be agonzing when a song is not cut quickly after conception, your catalog can be used as pitch material for new artists later down the road. Sia's "Chandelier" was originally pitched for Rihanna's project. Sia would later take the song as her own and reestablish her artist career to great efect. "Goodbye Earl" was originally written by Dennis Linde for an unreleased 1990 album for the band Sons of the Dessert. The song would remain unclaimed until the Dixie Chick's recorded it and promoted it as a single between 1999-2000. The song peaked at 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at 13 on US Hot Country. A great song in your back catalog sometimes just needs to wait for the right artist to come around.
The thing about a back catalog is that it can get out of control. That's why its important to keep detailed records: who are the other writers, what is their PRO information, what are their e-mails, do you have a copy of the instrumental and the demo, are the publishing splits agreed to? You can get into trouble if this information is not easily accessible especially if a music supervisor wants to use your song for television or a commercial. Ensuring that splits are agreed to and songs are registered accordingly with PROs upon their completion will help you navigate business dealings should a song from your back catalog gain success later down the road.
Don't be discouraged if certain songs do not make it out into the world quickly. There are tons of instances in which holding onto a song can generate unforeseen revenue streams. Sometimes, it's better to hold onto a great song until the right artist or opportunity arises. Just make sure to be prepared with the proper legal information and splits agreements.