“The world of music begins with creative effort – the song. What happens next with that song is the business of music. Many times the first contact that a songwriter has with this business side of music is through dealings with a music publisher. This relationship can be one of the most important ones a songwriter will ever enter into as the role of the music publisher is to exploit the song (get artists to record it:
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get the song placed in motion pictures, television series, videogames, advertising commercials, ringtones and ringbacks, dolls and toys, musical greeting cards, etc.)
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to negotiate the deals with all of those who want to use the song (film and TV producers, advertising agencies, videogame companies, etc.)
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to protect the song (copyright the song, sue infringers, register the song with ASCAP, Harry Fox Agency, foreign country collection societies, etc.)
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and to collect all of the song’s earnings from all sources (with the exception of the writer’s share of performance monies) and pay the songwriter his or her share according to the songwriter/music publisher contract.” Todd Brabec & Jeff Brabec
Creative Commons license
The artist keeps the copyright, but allows people to copy and distribute his or her work provided they give the artist credit and only on the conditions specified below. These licenses are free, so the artist doesn’t get paid for them.
Noncommercial license
The licensor permits others to copy, distribute and transmit the work. In return, licensees may not use the work for commercial purposes unless they get the licensor’s permission.
Music Publishing
“A music publisher has duties that are both creative and administrative. Creative in that they look for ways to pitch your song(s), either by “pitching” the song to other artists to record, to advertisers who could use it in a commercial, or to music supervisors who might place it in a film or TV show.” SESAC
Publishing Deals
“As a music attorney, I am frequently asked by songwriters and music producers presented with a publishing deal:
‘How do I know if this is the right deal for me?’
Publishing deals can be complex. The following questions and answers are meant to help songwriters analyze the issues of a potential publishing deal.” Richard Jefferson, Esq.
Songwriter Agreements
“The Songwriter Agreement establishes the basic relationship between the songwriter and the publisher. It assigns control of most issues involving the copyrights to the publisher, subject to certain areas of control retained by the songwriter and the songwriter sharing in the royalties earned by the work. As in most agreements, there are certain provisions that are deemed “standard” boilerplate based upon industry custom and practice but many points are totally negotiable by the parties depending on the stature of the songwriter, the economic realities and the flexibility of the publisher.” Jeffrey Brabec and Steven Winogradsky.
