Publishing

Music publisher (popular music)

In the music industry, a music publisher (or publishing company) is responsible for ensuring the songwriters and composers receive payment when their compositions are used commercially. Through an agreement called a publishing contract, a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright of their composition to a publishing company. In return, the company licenses compositions, helps monitor where compositions are used, collects royalties and distributes them to the composers. They also secure commissions for music and promote existing compositions to recording artists, film and television.[1]

The copyrights owned and administered by publishing companies are one of the most important forms of intellectual property in the music industry. (The other is the copyright on a master recording which is typically owned by a record company.) Publishing companies play a central role in managing this vital asset.

The music publisher's role

Successful songwriters and composers have a relationship with a publishing company defined by a publishing contract. The publisher agrees to see to it that the composers receive royalties from various uses of their compositions. They sometimes provide substantial advances against future income, especially with established artists. In return, the publishing company receives a percentage, which can be as high as 50% and varies for different kinds of royalties.

There are several types of royalties:

- Mechanical royalties derive from the sale of recorded music, such as CDs or digital downloads. These royalties are paid to publishers by record companies (through the Harry Fox Agency as well as through American Mechanical Rights Agency in the U.S.).

- Performance royalties are collected by performance rights organizations such as BMI or ASCAP (in the USA) and are paid by radio stations and others who broadcast recorded music.

- Synchronization royalties are required when a composition is used in a film or television soundtrack. These royalties typically pass through the hands of a music publisher before they reach the composer.

Publishers also work to link up new songs by songwriters with suitable recording artists to record them and to place writers' songs in other media such as movie soundtracks and commercials. They will typically also handle copyright registration and "ownership" matters for the composer. Music print publishers also supervise the issue of songbooks and sheet music by their artists.

Traditionally, music publishing royalties are split fifty/fifty, with half going to the publisher (as payment for their services) and the rest going to the songwriter – or songwriters, as the case may be. Other arrangements have been made in the past, and continue to be; some better for the writers, some better for the publishers. Occasionally a recording artist will ask for a co-writer's credit on a song (thus sharing in both the artist and publishing royalties) in exchange for selecting it to perform, particularly if the writer is not well-known. Sometimes an artist's manager or producer will expect a co-credit or share of the publishing, and occasionally a publisher will insist on writer's credit; these practices are listed in descending order of scrupulousness, as regarded by the music industry.

Publishing contract

A publishing contract is a legal contract between a publisher and a writer or author (or more than one), to publish written material by the writer(s) or author(s). This may involve a single written work, or a series of works.

In the case of music publishing, the emphasis is not on printed or recorded works as much as on promotion of a musical composition, and/or its referral to a suitable recording artist. A music publisher who does produce (or contract to issue) sheet music is known as a music print publisher.

Major types of music publishing agreements

The seven (7) basic music publishing contracts are:

(1) Single Song Agreement: A single song deal is an agreement between the writer and the music publisher in which the writer grants certain rights to a publisher for one or more songs. In single song deals, the writer is sometimes paid a one-time recoupable advance.

(2) Exclusive Song Writer Agreement ("ESWA"): Under the ESWA or "staff writer" contract, the song writer generally grants all of the publisher’s share of the income to the music publisher. The writer’s services are exclusive to the music publishers for a specified period of time. Thus, any compositions written within that period belong to the music publisher. These deals are usually offered to writers with some degree of success. Because the writer has a track record of writing hits, the publisher feels confident that it will recoup its investment. In return for signing away exclusive rights to some or all the writer’s songs, the writer gets paid by the publisher a negotiated advance against future royalties. The advance amount naturally depends on the writer’s bargaining power and on the competition in marketplace, if any. Under a staff writer deal, the writer is paid on a weekly or quarterly basis. An ESWA can be either tied to a record contract, or independent of a record contract.

(3) Co-publishing Agreement ("Co-pub"): The co-publishing ("co-pub") deal is perhaps the most common publishing agreement. Under this deal, the songwriter and the music publisher are "co-owners" of the copyrights in the musical compositions. The writer becomes the "co-publisher" (i.e. co-owner) with the music publisher based on an agreed split of the royalties. The song writer assigns an agreed percentage to the publisher, usually (but not always), a 50/50 split. Thus, the writer conveys _ of the publisher's share to the publisher, but retains all of writer’s share. In a typical "75/25 co-pub deal," the writer gets 100% of the song writer’s share, and 50% of the publisher’s share, or 75% of the entire copyrights, with the remaining 25% going to the publisher. Thus, when royalties are due and payable, the writer/co-publisher will receive 75% of the income, while the publisher will retain 25%.

(4) Administration Agreement ("Admin"): An administrative agreement takes place between a songwriter/publisher and an independent administrator, or between a writer/publisher and another music publisher. In an "admin deal," the songwriter self-publishes and merely licenses songs to the music publisher for a term of years and for an agreed royalty split. Under this agreement, the music publisher simply administers and exploits the copyrights for another publisher/copyright owner. Only the most popular song writers can even consider asking for an admin deal. Under this coveted arrangement, ownership of the copyright is usually not transferred to the administrator. Instead, the music publisher gets 10-20% of the gross royalties received from administering and exploiting the songs for a certain period of time and for a certain territory.

(5) Collection Agreement: A collection agreement is like an admin deal where the writer retains the copyrights, except that the publisher does not perform exploitation functions; like an accountant or business manager, it merely collects and disburses available royalty income.

(6) Sub-publishing Agreement: These are basically music publishing deals in foreign territories between a US publisher and a publisher in a foreign territory. They are like admin or collection deals (with no ownership of the copyrights being transferred to the sub-publisher), but limited to one or more countries outside the US. Under this publishing deal, the publisher allows the sub-publisher to act on its behalf in certain foreign territories. Often, they are limited to a group of countries, such as European Union (EU), GAS (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Latin America, etc.

(7) Purchase Agreement: Under this agreement, one music publisher acquires in whole or in part the catalogue of another music publisher, sort of like a merger of companies. In this case, a "due diligence" investigation is done to determine the value of the catalogue.

WOD (World of Dance) Publishing agreement

What we (World of Dance Publishing) do is exactly as described above. When we sign and release your tracks we take on the responsibility for ensuring that songwriters and composers receive payment when their compositions are used commercially. We will make sure you receive your royalties (as well as your part of the sales). Through an agreement called a publishing contract, a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright of their composition to a publishing company. In return, the company licenses compositions, helps monitor where compositions are used, collects royalties and distributes them to the composers. They also secure commissions for music and promote existing compositions to recording artists, film and television.

We either go into a 'Single Song Agreement' or an 'Exclusive Song Writer Agreement ("ESWA")'

If we go into the latter; all tracks that you release, WOD Publishing will manage them. So not only tracks which are released on one of our labels, but any track released on any record label.