Well we are coming close to the end. This month I will focus on publishing and distribution, from the regular old school to the new media digital era. We will discuss what music publishing is, and who are the key players in the contract deal.
Music publishing is when a songwriter creates (writes) a song and in order for that song to make money the songwriter has to have a publisher. The publisher signs a contract with the songwriter on the cost of how much the song will make, usually publishers and songwriter split 50/50 on royalties from the songs earnings. The publishing company use it contacts in the music industry and shops the song like it is a product trying to make as much money as possible for the song.
When finding a publishing company you should make sure you do your homework before signing a contract with the company. Now with that being said, there is several music publishing deals out there: the “standard” publishing deal, co-publishing deals, and administrative deals to name a few. A “standard” publishing deal is the normal 50% for the songwriter and 50% for the publisher. You may be wondering if the songwriter wrote the song then way does the publisher get 50% too? Well with the publisher’s connections, marketing and promoting this song to sell to other artist or musician, the publisher is working the same if not twice as hard to get the song in purchased whether if it is by a film, commercial, or musician. The copyrights of the song is divided 50/50, so that the publisher has the right to distribute, reproduce, or allow others to perform the song. The publisher’s goal is to get as much money for the song as possible. A co-publishing deal is when a songwriter already has their own publishing company and they sign a contract/deal with a second publisher. The income is split 50% for the songwriter, 25% for their publishing company, 25% for the secondary publishing company and the copyrights are split between the two. And an administration deal is a songwriter signs a deal with a big publishing company just to collect money on their songs. In this deal the administrator may get 10-20% of the income and the songwriter will collect the rest, and the songwriter will own all of their copyrights.
No comments:
Post a Comment