Artist Management & Publishing
Music publishing is all about songwriters and copyrights. When music is used commercially (whether sold, licensed, or publicly performed), the songwriter and copyright owner are owed royalties. A music publishing company can offer several services for songwriters. As a ‘publishing administrator’, they administer the copyright – protecting the use of songs as well as collecting royalties owed from use. On the creative side, many music publishers focus on the use and exploitation of the copyrights they administer by creating opportunities in the form of ‘sync licenses’ for film, TV, ads, video games, etc. Additionally, these creative teams can play a key role in setting up co-writes and pitching songs to artists and labels to be recorded for the first time.
The majority of deals with larger music publishers see copyright owners receiving 50% of all royalties the music publisher helps generate. At the end of the day, the songwriter still “owns” the song, but working out-licensing, pitching to music supervisors, and collecting royalties is a significant amount of work.
Every artist of original material will need a publishing deal.