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Amusic publisher is a type ofpublisher that specializes in distributingmusic. Music publishers originally publishedsheet music. Whencopyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of theintellectual property of composers. Today, music publishers license compositions, collect royalties, and make suresongwriters andcomposers are paid when their work is used.
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 June 2019[update] include:
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In themusic industry, a music publisher or publishing company is responsible for ensuring thatsongwriters andcomposers receive payment when theircompositions are used commercially. Through an agreement called apublishing 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, collectsroyalties, and distributes them to the composers. They also secure commissions for music and promote existing compositions torecording artists, film, and television.[2]
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 amaster recording, which is typically owned by arecord company. Publishing companies play a central role in managing this vital asset.
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Successful songwriters and composers maintain a relationship with a publishing company defined by a publishing contract. Publishers also sometimes provide substantial advances against future income. In return, the publishing company receives a percentage, which can be as high as 50% and varies for different kinds 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 moviesoundtracks andcommercials. They will typically also handlecopyright registration and "ownership" matters for the composer. Music print publishers also supervise the issue ofsongbooks andsheet music by their artists.
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Traditionally, music publishing royalties are split seventy/thirty, with thirty percent going to the publisher (as payment for their services) 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 (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 (as withNorman Petty andPhil Spector), and occasionally a publisher will insist on writer's credit (asMorris Levy did with several of his acts); these practices are listed in ascending order ofscrupulousness, 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" (some real, such asdemo recording ormusical arranging, some fictional, such as "audition" or "review" fees) 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.
Rock-n-roll pioneerBuddy Holly split with longtime manager Petty over publishing matters in late 1958, as didthe Buckinghams with producerJames William Guercio almost a decade later.John Fogerty ofCreedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was sued by his former publisherSaul Zaentz (who had also served as his manager) over a later Fogerty song that sounded slightly like a CCR song Zaentz published. Fogerty won in court.
Several bands and artists own (or later purchase) 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 legendLittle Richard was largely cheated out of his music publishing and copyrights, as were many performers.Brian Wilson andMike Love ofThe Beach Boys were crushed to learn thatMurry Wilson (father to three of the Beach Boys, Love's uncle, and the band's music publisher) had sold their companySea of Tunes toA&M Records during 1969 for a fraction of what it was worth – or earned in the following years.
A large factor inthe Beatles' breakup was when their publisherDick James sold his share ofNorthern Songs, the company they'd formed with him in 1963 (then taken public in 1967, with shares trading on theLondon Stock Exchange), to Britain'sAssociated TeleVision (ATV) in 1969. Neitherthe Beatles nor managersLee Eastman andAllen 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 andPaul McCartney elected to sell their share of Northern Songs (and thus their own copyrights), while retaining their writer's royalties. (George Harrison andRingo Starr retained minority holdings in the company.)
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