Music Publishers

Most people know about record labels, they’ve heard about managers but very few can identify what a publisher does. Their role in the industry is incredibly important so it’s vital to know about it. Publishers don’t release records or have a relationship with the public but they are, by far, the most lucrative area of the industry for creative people. Over the course of this blog I will explain what a publisher is meant to do and how it is possible to survive without them. We will also look at 3 fundamental aspects of the music industry; Copyright, Piracy and Royalties. 

To understand the importance of publishing, we need to first look at copyright. Copyright is a fundamental part of the music industry and without it the entire business would fall apart. It has been around for hundreds of years and started with the copyright of books in the early 1700’s. It meant that people at the time, who were uneducated, were able to access written work and learn from it without the writers being exploited. The government were able to make money from the distribution and many people could finally have access to books, sheet music and other literature. Thus, copyright had officially begun and has stayed vital to this day. In every music recording you’ve ever heard, there are two types of copyright. These are the copyright that exists in the recording and the copyright that exists in the composition. Copyright is simply the rights granted to the creator of an original work. As long as you have the idea for a piece of music, recorded in some hard form, you have copyright to that idea. That form can be written, filmed, recorded etc. It is your right to distribute and adapt it in whatever way you see fit. In order to prove your copyright, it is best to have your ideas recorded down in many forms and to license them. There are regular court cases over copyright infringement; so to stop it happening to you, make sure you’re covered!

So what are music publishers and how do they relate? A publisher collects the money due to a songwriter for the use of their music compositions. They are only interested in the copyright found in the compositions. They don’t sign recording artists, they don’t make records, remixes or shoot videos. That’s down to record labels, as we spoke about in the previous post, and they are interested in the copyright in the recordings. Publishers sign writers and collect the money generated by the use of their songs. Good publishers can assist in getting you a record deal and can also help to get your compositions into adverts, movies and TV, where there is a lot of money to be made. These are known as synchronization deals. Publishers usually pay an advance to the writer; half when they sign the deal and half when they have fulfilled their guarantee, and will then exploit the composition for a period of time, which can vary from a couple of years to many decades. As a side note to remember, the word exploit in the music industry doesn’t have negative connotations it’s a legal term that means to make full use of.

There’s money to be made in many outlet streams as a songwriter such as when songs are sold to the public, played on the radio, performed live, used in adverts and heard in TV and film. These are known as royalties. A royalty is simply money paid to a writer and artist from the sale of songs and recordings. For example, every time you click to listen to a song on Spotify (as a premium member) the recording artist and songwriter earns a royalty. Obviously this money is split if the writer / artist has a publishing and record deal. Typically an artist will get 75% of the money made with a publishing deal. With a record label you’re your likely to get 15% of the royalties made. As I’m sure you might have noticed, there is a lot of money in song writing and even more if you are both writer and artist. For example when Ellie Goulding covered and released Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ he earned a compositional royalty whilst still making money on his original version of the song. There are many songwriters whose names you’ve never heard of and whose faces you wouldn’t recognize if you walked past them on the street but they are behind acts such as Beyonce, Rihanna and One Direction and they are making millions. 

Is it possible for writers to make money without using publishers? Yes it is, just as it’s possible for artists to become successful without a major record label, there are ways songwriters can earn royalties without going through a publisher. The simplest way is for them to join societies that will pay them directly. The biggest of these is PRS for music, which stands for Performing Rights Society. There are many PRO’s (performing rights organizations) throughout the world but PRS is the UK’s society. They collect money due to a composer for the performance of their music. Every venue or broadcaster that uses music in a pub, restaurant, shop, radio station etc must have a PRS license in order to play music. They pay PRS a fee (usually based on how many people are likely to hear the music) and in turn PRS use that money to pay composers. Should you have a publishing deal as well, PRS will split the money 50/50 between you and your publisher. Then, depending on the publishing contract you hold, the money can be worked out accordingly. PRS play the role of the police for your music and anyone can join them for a one off fee of £50.00. You can upload your compositions to them and they will track when your songs are played and will pay you a royalty accordingly. As someone who has recently signed up to them, I would highly recommend them. They are easy to deal with, help prove copyright and work on your side as a songwriter. They also have a side organization, called MCPS, which stands for Mechanical Copyright Protection Society. They collect royalties when mechanical copies are made such as vinyl, CD’s and, nowadays, downloads. Remember though that whilst these are very viable options for songwriters they are merely collection societies they don’t push your music whereas good publishers will. 

Having your songs licensed with a publisher or a PRO can help you prove your copyright and stop it from being infringed but can it help with piracy? Well, unfortunately, the short answer is no, not really. We hear about piracy so regularly that we’ve become desensitized to it. In fact 70% of online users don’t think there is anything wrong with piracy and around 67% of the worlds piracy is downloaded in the UK and the USA. So what is piracy? It’s simple, it's STEALING. Many millions are lost each year due to piracy and the common response we hear is that musicians make enough money for it not to be important. That may be true, but for those musicians starting out who spend thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours putting music together, piracy destroys the opportunity for success and royalties. So how do we get these sites taken down? We just need to educate people that it’s theft, just as if you broke into someone’s house and stole their instruments. We need to stop businesses from sponsoring the sites and keeping them running. We need to monitor the people using them; in Germany, if you pirate anything, you receive an instant fine of €2500. We all need to work together to get these websites closed down internationally and we all need to earn more so that people have the money to spend on art. Simple right? Ok, not really, but the least all you music lovers can do, is do your bit by supporting your passion and paying for the music you listen to. Whether that is downloading, buying CD’s or even paying Spotify, Tidal, Apple music membership etc. Remember the money doesn’t make it back to the artist if you don’t have a premium membership. If you don’t pay for your music, it's difficult to make the point that other people should buy the music you make one day. There will always be pirates in some form, for example  when Isohunt’s servers were taken down, it vanished for a few months and then appeared again with its servers on the island of Tonga because the licensing laws are weaker there. Crazy right?

So how would you go about getting a publisher? In a similar way to getting a manager and a record label, you need to find out what suits you. You need to ask important questions and receive answers that satisfy you. You need to make sure you’re not signing away your songs for a company to own them for years and not help you. 

Here are some questions you could ask a publisher:

How many songs am I obliged to write?

How do I get paid?

Can I write for another publisher while I’m signed? (Usually the answer is no they will have exclusivity)

Will you help me get a record deal?

Will you help me get synchronization deals?

What territory does the agreement cover?

Publishers can be an extremely useful and lucrative way of making a living as a songwriter but they can also make your life very difficult if you’re not careful. See Paul McCartney article. Remember you are the artist and without art the entire music business would disappear.

For all things music check out my website Eliot Ash