Entertainment Law: Publishing Your Music
Tools For Success: How to Successfully Publish & Protect Your Music
According to a report by IBIS World, “The music publishing industry will likely continue to benefit from technological change and expand streaming revenue over the five years to 2026.”
Musicians and composers spend their lives perfecting their craft. As a composer and musician it’s important to understand how publishing works and how you can protect your music. Music publishing is growing along with the expansion of technology, and having tools to successfully publish your music will help your career in the music industry flourish.
What Is Music Publishing
Soundcharts defines music publishing as “the business of promotion and monetization of musical compositions: music publishers ensure that songwriters receive royalties for their compositions, and also work to generate opportunities for those compositions to be performed and reproduced.”
Publishers are an important part of the music industry because they can provide the following for musicians:
Secures commercially released recordings
Connected to successful managers, executives, producers, & recording artists
Administers compositions, copyrights, licenses, negotiations, & money due
Promotes music for other media outlets such as television, movies, & radio
Protects copyrights and enforces the rights of the songwriter
Working with music publishers will help you release and protect your music. Getting your music published is more complex than just signing a contract.
Understanding how music publishing works can help you successfully publish your music and grow your career in the music industry.
1.Registering with Rights Organizations
When publishing your music it’s important to register your music with performance rights organizations, or PROs. These organizations help artists collect the royalties they accrue as the copyright holders.
The PRO you register with “collects all royalties for songwriters- both for the writer and the publisher- so to get the publisher’s share of the royalties, you have to register with a PRO,” according to Soundcharts.
It's typically fairly simple to register with a PRO and become the publisher. According to ASCAP, here are the simple things you need to register with them:
Mailing address
Email
Tax ID number
About 10 minutes of your time
With the registration process being fairly easy and quick, it makes the publication process that much easier for musicians. Taking the time to register with a PRO will help you immensely in the music publication process.
2.Keep Track of Your Music
Your music exists not only as recordings but as the composition itself. The recording is the master copy of the composition, and each property has rights.
It’s also important to make sure your music hasn’t been published yet. If you’ve already published a piece of music, you’re essentially releasing your music without registering with a performance rights organization first.
If you own the recordings and compositions you are ensuring that you are the person who decides who can use them and how they are used.
Along with keeping track of your music don’t forget to promote it. Once your music is published you want your music to reach your audience and those in your contacts. Be sure to network, write creative pitches, and continue to look for opportunities for your music to be heard.
Tips For Self Publishing Your Music- The Den Collective
3.Negotiables In Publishing Deals
As musicians seeking to publish their music with record companies, it’s important to understand what can be negotiated and what can’t.
Negotiables include royalties, copyright infringement payments, length of contract, and how long the publisher holds the copyrights to your music.
Establishing a publishing deal with a music publisher can mean that they receive a portion of our royalties in compensation for their services. However, there are many benefits to these partnerships.
Benefits include publishers heavily promoting your music, promotion assistance, advances on future royalties, and administration deals.
4.Tools Needed to Self Publish
As a musician and songwriter you have the option of going to an organization to help publish your music, or you can self publish. There is no wrong route to go; take the time to find which one works best for you.
If you do decide to self publish there are some great advantages. You gain the full rights to the music because you aren’t sharing the copyright with anyone else. This also means you gain the full profits because all of the royalties goes to you instead of sharing a percentage due to a contract.
Being a self-publisher also means you can have full control over your career and opportunities. You have complete control over how your music is used, who gets to use it, and you have the freedom to choose the opportunities for your music.
On the other hand, there are also some downsides to being a self-publisher. You’re doing the work yourself which means you can miss out on royalty advances, you have more administrative work on your plate, and you don’t have extra help with promotion.
However, take the time to decide which publishing route would work best for you. The first step to successfully publishing your music is figuring out who you want publishing it- an organization or directly with you.
Why Music Publishing is Important
Molding your career as a composer and songwriter you will need methods for publishing your music. Having tools to register with publishing companies or self publish will help you record and promote your music effectively.
There are many tools when it comes to publishing your music, and understanding how you can best publish and monetize your music will help you make the most of your work.
The Den Collective partners with Composers and Songwriters Steve London, Rob Kovacs, Rosie Cerquone and Israel Heller to provide coachings and resources for those interested in writing music. More information on our coaches can be found here.
Knowing how to publish your music is essential in maintaining your career in the music industry. Myself and The Den Collective are here to support and help in any way we can!
Sources:
https://soundcharts.com/blog/how-the-music-publishing-works#what-is-music-publishing
https://www.ascap.com/help/career-development/corner1
https://musiciansunion.org.uk/working-performing/composing-and-songwriting/music-publishing
https://soundcharts.com/blog/self-publishing
https://www.tunecore.com/guides/music-publishing-101
https://www.ascap.com/help/my-ascap-membership/join-as-publisher