The Role of Music Publishing in 2024
In the era of digital music streaming platforms, when everyone can share their tracks and gain popularity extremely fast, the role of a music publisher becomes inconspicuous. It's a misconception that music publishing plays a crucial role in a song's success. Successful publishing allows musicians to receive royalties, get high engagement, and become recognizable among other performers in the genre—beginners who only enter the world of music and don't understand all the nuances yet.
Our goal is to explain everything about music publishing, so you will understand what publishing rights are, how to promote your music, and what types of music publishing exist in the world of music business. Even though you decided to release music independently, you may change your mind after reading this article.
|
Type of Publishing |
Description |
Key Takeaways |
|
Self-Publishing |
Artists retain full ownership of their music and handle all aspects of publishing themselves. |
Full control over rights and royalties, but requires more work on administration, licensing, and promotion. |
|
Traditional Publishing |
A publisher acquires partial ownership and manages the rights, licensing, and royalties. |
Provides professional management, but artists share royalties and often have less control. |
|
Co-Publishing |
Ownership is shared between the artist and publisher. The publisher also holds administration and licensing. |
Allows for shared control and ownership, and offers support in licensing and promotion. |
|
Administration Publishing |
A publisher manages rights and collects royalties on behalf of the artist without taking ownership. |
Artists retain full ownership while benefiting from royalty collection and administrative support. |
|
Sub-Publishing |
A local publisher handles rights in specific territories on behalf of a primary publisher. |
Expands an artist's reach internationally, ideal for licensing in foreign markets. |
|
Sync Licensing |
A publisher or artist licenses music specifically for use on TV, in movies, or in ads. |
Generates additional revenue streams, ideal for music placement in various media formats. |
|
Library or Production Music |
Music created specifically for licensing in film, TV, ads, and more, often with non-exclusive rights. |
Quick monetization through recurring licenses, suited for background and commercial uses. |
Have a look at the most common types of music publishing and understand the difference between them
What Is Music Publishing
Today, in the world of the music business, music publishing is more than just uploading a song on a platform. Music publishing is also about promoting and controlling the monetization of your tracks. For example, publishing includes controlling the royalty collection, copyright registration (showing who owns the track), and even negotiating about licensing. Cooperation with music publishers helps you to increase income, sign with big companies, and make sure your music is registered according to current legal standards. Music publishers become intermediaries between musicians and various organizations when it comes to license purchasing, collaborating, or signing a publishing deal.
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Why Is Copyright Important for Musicians?
Neglecting copyright is something you should not do. Copyright law prevents others from using your intellectual property without permission. For example, Sync licensing, which was created specifically for such purposes, allows artists to place music in various shows, movies, ads, and other formats. They get revenue from every placement, which directly involves the overall revenue. TV syncs are usually the lowest as they allow artists to get no more than $5k for new musicians. Ads, on the other hand, are the most expensive, as the final price may rise to $300k. It depends on the artist's status and the size of the company that purchases the license.
Explaining Various Types of Music Publishing
Once we define music publishing and highlight its importance in the music business, let's discuss various types of publishing. Depending on needs, goals, and other factors, musicians have to choose one of the following options to release music.
Classic Music Publishing
A traditional deal involves signing a deal with a publishing company. After the signing, the company gains the right to use songs for specific purposes and takes the administrative and business side of the artist's career, dealing with copyright registrations, licensing, collecting royalties, and splitting them (usually 50/50). Also, musicians receive additional income from earnings generated from using their music in promo, videos, etc.
Administration Agreement
Another type of music publishing is called administration agreement. It's used when a songwriter wants to have full ownership of his property but still looks for assistance managing their songs and catalogs. The administration agreement allows you to have a personal assistant. This person takes care of the paperwork, legal aspects of music publishing, and small details that show up during these processes. With an administration agreement, you register a copyright and collect royalties but still receive the full income your music has generated. The specialists pay attention to every detail (for example, how long the agreement lasts, what the specific license offers, etc.).
Co-Publishing Agreement
When sides sign a co-publishing agreement, a songwriter shares a part of composition ownership with the company responsible for publishing. When this agreement comes into effect, the publisher takes responsibility for promotion, collaboration, and seeking opportunities to make the music heard. This person works on building a marketing strategy, pushing your music not only on social media and streaming services but also via other options like paid ads.
Co-publishing agreement makes the difference for beginners who don't have connections in the music business. don't know how music publishing works, but still want to make themselves heard. You have to share a part of the revenue with the publisher and receive better promotion opportunities instead. Moreover, you ensure your music is licensed and nobody would break the music copyright law that easily. Depending on the responsibilities and contribution of each part, you can negotiate a percentage of the revenue for each part.
How Music Publishing Works?
After creating a song, the artist goes to the agreement and passes the track to the publisher. The specialists have to pitch the music to potential listeners, get appropriate licenses (for example, for live performances), promote, and collect royalties. Basically, a music publisher is an administrator responsible for the artist's career. Whether it's about documents, promotion activities, marketing campaigns, or royalties collection, it's all on the publisher. Still, musicians also take advantage of their visibility and use social media for promotion. They also choose the best music streaming platforms to appear in charts and establish dominance in the genre.
Artists like 21 Savage, Eminem, and Metro Boomin make people go crazy after announcing their next show. They don't need an extra push to notify people about their performances. You may not be as popular at the beginning, so make sure you have additional instruments for promotion. Organic promotion from Artist Push is a good option to bring you more organic streams and increase your audience. Start with smaller packages and move on, using more powerful options later.
Changes in Music Publishing Trends
Today, music publishing takes a twist toward digital promotion. Publishers use all capabilities of distribution platforms and streaming services to share the product. Moreover, today music doesn't exist without a visual part, so music is now used in TV shows, ads, movies, and other types of visual content. For example, publishers have to make sure their clients get the royalties for such collaborations.
It's not the last upgrade as we should expect more capabilities for publishers and musicians soon. The landscape is evolving, and it's complicated to predict what will come next. Whatever it will be, publishers will analyze the changes, adapt their strategies, and keep working to maximize creative efforts and make the music heard by millions of listeners. A good way to stay updated about the latest changes in the world of music publishing is to attend events like the Music Ally Publishing Summit. Specialists discuss various problems, including the impact of AI on the music publishing business and how technologies will change the business overall.
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