|
Publishing 101
By: Patrick Steven Patterson
Copyright leads into Publishing to a certain extent. You already own your songs. What do you do with them now?
Most guitar- and piano-based (e.g. rock) acts record their own, internally written creations, lyrics and music. Most Hip-Hop lyricists record their own creations, sometimes with a producer who works with programming, beats, and sampling.
Writing your own music can be very profitable. Most recently, writing your own beats as an electronic artist has become profitable. Generally, the most profitable area of the record industry is Publishing. There is a solid and easily accessible avenue for songwriters (as opposed to painters, sculptors, and potters) to earn money from their creations. By no means is it easy to have your newest, most amazing creations set you up in multi-million dollar mansions, but as you hear the same beats and songs in the Volkswagen commercial or in a movie as you do in the clubs, you can see that there are many ways to make money from your music.
As the owner of a song (the copyright holder), you have different rights concerning how the song is used. You can record it or perform it yourself, or others (individuals, record labels, consumer product companies) can pay to use it (license it). The money earned on other's use of your copyright is called Publishing. The four main income streams that come from Publishing are Performance, Mechanical, Print, and Synchronization.
Performance – You are the only person who can perform your songs in public unless someone pays you for the right to play it themselves. You also earn Performance income every time that your song is played on the radio. The two largest organizations (over 90% of the market) that control Performance Publishing are the American Society of Composers and Performers (ASCAP) and (Broadcast Musicians Incorporated (BMI).
Mechanical – When your physical copy of your song is made, made into a CD, cassette, album, put on a compilation, etc., you are entitled to Mechanical Income. The US Copyright Office controls the amount of per song Mechanical income (currently 7.1¢), but other things like contracts you may sign can change that.
Print – If sheet music of your song is made or printed in some other form, you are entitled to Print Publishing income. Generally, this is much smaller income than Performance of Mechanical, but it is income nonetheless.
Synchronization – This occurs when your music is combined with a picture or other type of visual image. This applies to any music videos made for your song, the addition of your song to TV commercials, put into a movie, etc.
There is no easy way for most artists to keep track of all the types of publishing income for all of the radio stations in the world; video channels, bands performing live every night. ASCAP and BMI take care of Performance Publishing, and other Publishers that will handle some or all of the types of publishing income, for a fee (which varies widely between the different companies and types of publishing that they handle). You are paying the publisher to take care of all the different kinds of publishing as you would pay a manager or booking agent to utilize their services. Alternatively, you can start your own music publishing company, which many artists do.
Good sources for obtaining more information about publishing are U.S. Copyright Office, ASCAP, and BMI.
|
|
|
|
|
|
