Music publisher

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Music publisher (sheet music)
)

A music publisher is a type of

publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellectual property
of composers.

Music print publishing

The term music publisher originally referred to publishers who issued hand-copied or printed sheet music.

Examples (who are actively in business as of June 2019) include:

Other media

Intellectual property management

In the

recording 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 a

record company
). Publishing companies play a central role in managing this vital asset.

The music publisher's role

Successful songwriters and composers have 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 up new songs by songwriters with suitable recording artists to record them and to place writers' songs in other media such as movie

songbooks and sheet music
by their artists.

Publishing disputes

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 with

scrupulousness
, as regarded by the music industry.

The most unscrupulous type of music publisher is the

musical 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 pioneer Buddy Holly split with longtime manager Petty over publishing matters in late 1958, as did the Buckinghams with producer James William Guercio almost a decade later. John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was sued by his former publisher Saul Zaentz (who'd 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 legend Little Richard was largely cheated on his music publishing and copyrights, as were many performers. Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys were crushed to learn that Murry Wilson (father to three of the Beach Boys, Love's uncle, and the band's music publisher) had sold their company Sea of Tunes to A&M Records during 1969 for a fraction of what it was worth – or earned in the following years.

A large factor in

Associated TeleVision (ATV) in 1969. Neither the Beatles nor managers Lee Eastman and Allen 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 and Paul McCartney elected to sell their share of Northern Songs (and thus their own copyrights), while retaining their writer's royalties. (George Harrison and Ringo Starr
retained minority holdings in the company.)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Home". G. Henle Verlag. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  2. ^ "What is music publishing?". Music Publishers Association.
  3. ^ "Music Royalties 101 – Publishing Royalties – Royalty Exchange". www.royaltyexchange.com. Retrieved 2024-01-09.

Further reading

External links