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Message: [QUOTE="Black Panther, post: 3339, member: 3"] Music publishing is where all the money is at and the ones who make truckloads of money are the copyright owners. All it takes to be a music publisher is registering your music publishing company with a company registrar. From there it's all about running a music publishing company efficiently like any other business. And it's always a good idea to separate music and business to avoid a bitter experience. A musician's love of making new records shouldn't make them neglect the aspect of the music business. However, there are no restrictions for anyone to be a music publisher. Record producers can even start their own music publishing companies. The same is true for songwriters, singers, and rappers in the business of music. [HEADING=3]The songwriting business[/HEADING] In the music business, it's a premium for a record label to have musicians who can write their own lyrics. After all songwriters and music producers are the lifeblood of the music business. On the other side of things, you have musicians who write absolutely nothing and, for this reason, you have many songwriters writing commercial songs for these recordings artists. But songwriters ain't doing it for free - there ain't no such thing as free verses and hooks. Songwriters negotiate to get paid either a flat fee for writing lyrics or earn publishing royalties. It's not only R&B and Pop singers who have songwriters making songs for them. In Hip Hop music too, there are some rappers who have ghostwriters working as though they were in a sweatshop. Ghostwriters in hop hop music routinely deliver bars, hooks, flows, cadences and melodies. But if a rapper is known to have ghostwriters they lose their credibility in the hip hop business. However, in R&B and Pop music, it's normal for a singer to have dozens of songwriters working on a song. Some songs are literary written by a group of people working as a team. Music publishing for songwriters and producers: A music publishing company makes money by licensing songs on behalf of songwriters after a music publishing deal is signed between a songwriter and a music publishing company. Henceforth a music publishing company will be able to generate money while licensing songs to third parties such as film companies, video games, online streaming services, and many more. N.B. in music copyright law a song is made up of two elements which are melody and lyrics. Sometimes a melody may be referred to as a tune in the songwriting business. So if a songwriter is capable of writing both the melody (music) and lyrics (words). Then that songwriter owns all the rights to that song. It will be up to them to decide if they what to sell that to a major artist or release it as their own song. But if one songwriter writes the melody only, the other songwriter is responsible for the lyrics. Then the rights to that song will usually be split 50/50 between each. This means one songwriter will get 50% of the publishing rights and the same is true for the other songwriter. A song is always 100% and if songwriters collaborate they should agree who is responsible for what. Otherwise, a songwriter may write a song and not get paid while other collaborators are making money off that song. [HEADING=3]Music publishing administration[/HEADING] Music publishing administration consists of a songwriter having to turn over ownership of the song to a music publisher. As a result, the music publishing company will split the earnings 50/50 with the songwriter of the song. Thereof a music publishing administration issues a license to third parties in what is known as copyright administration. But that's only after signing a publishing deal with a songwriter or music producer. For instance, a license can be issued for a film, commercial advertising, video games, and many more. In return, the music publisher collects money and pays it to the songwriter. So when a film requests to use a particular song that is known as synchronization in the publishing business. What a music publishing company earns is referred to as the publisher's share which is 50% of the publishing income. A songwriter collects the other 50% which is known as the writer's share. If a songwriter decides to run a music publishing company then they would get both the publisher's share and the writer's share. Although it might not be the most profitable route to take. Because this requires a songwriter to understand the structure of a publishing company and have the business skills to run it. Even the top music producers can not handle music publishing administration on their own. Hence they end up assigning their writer's share to a music publisher for composing the music. Remember a music producer is eligible to earn publishing checks for making a beat or composing the instrumental. In summary, a music publishing company needs to have permission to exploit copyright material. Without access to a song's copyright. A music publishing company cannot earn money from that song. [HEADING=3]Mechanical royalties [/HEADING] When a music consumer buys an album whether, via digital download, a music publisher receives mechanical royalty payment. Next, the music publishing company will render some of that money to a songwriter that they have a publishing deal with. Basically, that's how mechanical royalties work in the music business. In addition, a record label must have a license agreement with a rightful copyright owner before exploiting the song via the means of music distribution. It is against the law for a record label to distribute music without the consent of a music publisher. As a result, a record label will sign a deal with a music publisher and pay the money owed at a statutory royalty rate. When a record label has a deal with a music publisher then that record label will be free to sign another deal with a music distributor and make money from album sales. Sometimes a record label will try to cut mechanical royalty payments owed to a publisher. This can be done by calculating the money owed based on the albums sold. Rather than on the albums shipped which is costly if some records are not sold. [HEADING=3]Synchronization license[/HEADING] Music publishers issue sync licenses to a movie production company when music is to be used in a particular film. Sync licenses are also issued by music publishers to any entity which needs music to accompany a visual presentation. If a company needs music for a radio commercial then a music publisher will provide a transcription license. A sync license will not be made available for a radio commercial because it doesn't contain any motion picture. The rule of thumb is that sync licenses are only for visual images. While transcription licenses are readily made available to advertising agents using the radio as a medium of marketing. Sync fees vary depending on the song. If an advertiser wants to use a popular song then they will have to pay more. The same applies to film production because hit songs will result in high sync fees paid to a music publisher. Examples of music publishing company names are : [LIST] [*]Warner/Chappell [*]Universal Music Group Publishing [*]Sony/ATV [/LIST] If a song is written by more than one songwriter then those songwriters will have to split that money. This is done via an agreement called the music publishing split sheet. By the way, it's one of the most important things to know about the songwriting business. A songwriter who has no idea about music publishing is more likely not to get a songwriting credit. Therefore songwriters and artists need to agree about music publishing splits prior to releasing the song. If a split sheet agreement is shady this will result in a dispute. Of which music publishing companies could care less about. Because a music publisher will pay songwriters as stated on a publishing split sheet. Any further issues surrounding publishing disputes will have to be resolved in court. And that's costly for many songwriters to hire entertainment lawyers. However, if they win money will start pouring in. Many songwriters writers are constantly working and writing all the time. It's probably a good idea to do so because a songwriter will have enough material for a music publisher. Which provides an opportunity to strike gold with a hit song. Chart-topping singles are a dream come true for any songwriter because they generate the most money. Music fans rarely listen to the entire album anyway so that's just self-explanatory. In other words, it's the hits that count in the songwriting business. Anything else generates pennies while bills need to be paid on time. Unless a songwriter is already wealthy and just doing it for fun. [/QUOTE]

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