Music publisher


A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a significant role in the management of composers' intellectual property. Today, music publishers license compositions, collect royalties, and make sure songwriters and composers are paid when their work is used.

Music print publishing

The term "music publisher" originally referred to publishers who issued hand-copied or printed sheet music.
Examples of music publishers actively in business as of 2019 include:

Intellectual property management

In the music industry, a music publisher or publishing company is responsible for ensuring that 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.
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

Songwriters and composers typically maintain a contractual relationship with a music publishing company through a publishing agreement. Publishers may provide advances against future income. In return, the publishing company receives a percentage of the songwriter’s or composer’s royalties, which can be as high as 50% and may vary depending on the type of royalty.
There are several types of royalty:
Publishers also work to link 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.

Publishing disputes

Traditionally, music publishing royalties are split seventy/thirty, with thirty percent going to the publisher and the rest going to the songwriter or songwriters. 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 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 ascending order of scrupulousness, as regarded by the music industry.
The most unscrupulous type of music publisher is the song shark, who does little if any real "legwork" or promotion on behalf of songwriters. Song sharks make their profit not on royalties from sales, but by charging inexperienced writers for "services" a legitimate publisher would provide without cost to the writer, as part of their job. By comparison, a bona fide publisher who charges admission to a workshop for writers, where songs may be auditioned or reviewed, is not wrong to do so.
Roll Pioneer Buddy Holly split with longtime manager Petty over publishing matters in late 1958, as did the Buckinghams with producer James William Guercio almost a decade later. John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival was sued by his former publisher Saul Zaentz over a later Fogerty song that sounded slightly like a CCR song Zaentz published. Fogerty won in court.
Several bands and artists own their own publishing and start their own companies, with or without help from an outside agent. The sale or loss of publishing ownership can be devastating to a given artist or writer, financially and emotionally. R&B legend Little Richard was largely cheated out of his music publishing and copyrights, as were many performers. Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys were crushed to learn that Murry Wilson had sold their company Sea of Tunes to A&M Records during 1969 for a fraction of what it was worth - or earned in the following years.
A large factor in the Beatles' breakup was when their publisher Dick James sold his share of Northern Songs, the company they'd formed with him in 1963, to Britain's Associated TeleVision in 1969. Neither the Beatles nor managers Lee Eastman and Allen Klein were able to prevent ATV from becoming majority stockholders in Northern Songs, whose assets included virtually all the group's song copyrights. Losing control of the company, John Lennon and Paul McCartney elected to sell their share of Northern Songs, while retaining their writers' royalties.