For those of you who are prepared to dig in, pay dues and eventually morph into an artist who realizes writing on a prolific level, a music publishing deal may be an inevitable destination.
But there’s a lot to determine. You may be asking what is a music publishing deal for and do we really need one? A music publishing deal is a legal agreement between a songwriter and a publishing company, where in the publisher acts on behalf of the songwriter to promote, license and administer the songwriter’s catalog. A publisher works towards maximizing the monetization potential of the songwriter’s catalog and the collection of any and all licensing fees for use. The contract length between songwriter and publisher will be for a predetermined duration of time and it is in exchange for some predetermined share of the earnings.
Before you start to canvas the Internet for submission addresses. Lets fill in the details a bit. There is a lot to know, but it isn’t so important that you know everything.
Instead lets focus on a few basics and make sure you have the working knowledge you need to better focus your immediate plans and goals.
The Publishers Job
The real benefit of having the publisher is that they will be there in your corner to work on your behalf in a number of areas.
Consider for a moment all the places you hear music playing. Whether it’s background music at your favorite restaurant, a cover band at some local festival or just listening to the radio.
Multiply those occasions by an appropriately large number that is reflective of all the nooks and crannies of this great big world. That will give you some perspective of the task at hand.
Every time a published song is being played publicly a royalty is due to the artist. There are a number of Performance Rights Organizations that go about with the task of collecting all those dues. They do that reasonably well.
It’s your publisher’s job to hold them to account for your share. By having a publisher on your side, you’ll know that there is someone working to ensure your interests are managed.
The publishing companies have working relationships with all sorts of people in the music industry. The very people who are continually on the look out for quality material to produce, record or introduce to artists they represent.
Any publishing company worth its weight will be significantly entrenched with a network of contacts that spend their professional lives doing business and interacting with each other. Giving you the kinds of advantages you may not otherwise have.
That’s not to mention that your publishers are exactly the ones best versed to know the values and worth of content for any various situation and circumstance. Which makes them best informed to negotiate contract terms with those wanting to use your music for any number of things.
Getting Paid
If you’re anything like me, on occasion, I prefer to start with desert. So in that case lets talk about how the artist gets paid.
The technical term for the deserved payment of earned monies related to the use of a songwriter’s song is royalty.
There are three primary types of royalties that are collected for the songwriter. Each one of these three types represents a different capacity in which that work is licensed to accommodate.
The Three Types of Royalties
- Mechanical Royalty
- Public Performance Royalty
- Synchronization Fee
So far so good?
Good!
Mechanical Royalties
As history would have it, this particular Royalty was traditionally paid to the songwriter per each pressing of a recording including that songwriter’s song.
Before the pressing, the variable parts of that agreement would have been negotiated. After that, some sort of reasonable agreement would have been struck and the “Mechanical Right” to record that particular song would have been licensed from the songwriter to the label.
In these days, those ever-clear waters of that feel good bygone era are long gone and what we are left with is barely recognizable.
These days we’re inundated with a sea of competing online streamers who have devalued the songwriting artists financial take to that of a mere pittance.
But before we rise up in revolution, lets take a minute and succumb to the music industry’s current “modus operandi”.
The Two Primary Types of Online Streamers
- Non-Interactive – Webcast
- Interactive – On demand
Non-Interactive
The non-interactive would best be demonstrated by Pandora’s model of ad-sponsored streaming radio.
This non-interactive type does not allow for choice.
Interactive
Spotify and Apple on the other hand do indeed allow for that. They are both Interactive, they both provide “on demand” by choice selection features for there users.
The on demand streamer coupled with paid subscriptions subsequently yield greater earnings for their organizations as well as higher payouts to songwriters for royalties.
(HFA) Harry Fox Agency is a mechanical rights organization worth looking into.
Public Performance Royalties
Performance royalties are due for payment anytime a song is performed or broadcast in some public capacity. This includes radio and television broadcasts. It includes performances at venues, nightclubs and concerts. It even includes ambient background music in common spaces people congregate; such as shopping malls, department stores, restaurants and bars.
If you are that performer who is performing songs written by an established artist in those venues, it may not necessarily be your responsibility to make the royalty payment.
In fact, unless you are an artist on some national tour playing the licensed song on a regular basis, it will more than likely be the responsibility of the venue to acquire and pay for a blanket license agreement with the performance rights organizations (PRO) for any music played in their establishment.
A few notable PRO’s include; ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC in the United States and PRS in the United Kingdom.
Synchronization Fees
This type of royalty is collected on behalf of the songwriter when a song is used in a derivative work.
It’s most familiarly recognizable with songs being licensed for use on television commercials, radio ads, TV shows or even in feature films.
We all understand the benefit of a well-placed song to some quintessential scene. On many occasion, it has been that well fit song which has transcended that scene or commercial to something much more memorable or epic.
If that particular song was currently popular or historically popular then this royalty has the potential to be a big payday for a songwriter as well as the performer.
The money isn’t collected by any reporting agency like that of those mentioned for the previous royalties.
Rather, the Synchronization licensing is negotiated directly between all interested parties prior to use. Then once that agreement is reached, voila!
Three types of Publishing Deals
- Full Publishing Deal
- Co-Publishing Deal
- Administrative Deal
The Full Publishing Deal
This deal is not as commonplace as it had once been. In this circumstance the publisher gives the songwriter the premium package and in return the songwriter gives up the most.
This would be most reasonably suited for an unproven songwriter. The songwriter’s give incentivizes the publisher to really work on behalf of the songwriter.
Ultimately the publisher is assigned ownership of copyright for the lifetime on all works created per the contract requirement. The royalty split is 50/50.
The Co-Publishing Deal
A co-publishing agreement is a 75/25 royalty split favoring the songwriter. In this deal both the songwriter and the publisher cooperatively own all copyrights.
While handing over the lifetime duration copyrights in a Full Publishing Deal may be a necessity for a newcomer, it is not necessary for a slightly more established songwriter.
Accordingly The Co-Publishing Deal reverts full ownership of all copyrights back to the songwriter at some negotiated date.
This deal is desirable for a songwriter who has a bit more leverage but is still up and coming. They still depend on the of the publisher’s promotional services to put their songs into the hands of the recording artists they need to sing them.
The Administrative Deal
This deal is best suited for songwriters who are well established and networked, and it is also very good for singer-songwriters. The reason it’s well suited for both, is that neither need help to shop their songs to artists.
In this deal the songwriter retains all copyright ownership and contracts with the publisher to oversee royalty collection for a 90/10 royalty split in favor of the songwriter.
Getting the Deal
“If it was easy, everyone would do it!”
I recommend putting together well-recorded demos leaving nothing to anyone’s imagination. In my experience people who do not write music do not have the capacity to imagine what the song will sound like completed. They cannot instinctively fill in the holes, like those of us who can.
Present end product.
Do your best to be self-aware, this is not something that should happen for you because you want it to.
It is something that will happen for you because you’ve honed a craft and are about to become a professional.
Now go and get to the doing!
Good luck