A well known artist signed to any record label can be working with a publishing company. But anybody can be signed with a publisher. To make it simple, publishers are similar to record labels -they make deals with composers and promote their material to musicians or whoever would want to use their work. This could include anything from video games to movies, TV adverts, radio adverts, campaigns etc. Then they collect the licensing fees.
Example: "Make It Bun Dem" by Skrillex and Damian Marley has been used in a video game Far Cry 3 for PlayStation/Xbox/PC.. During this mission, the player has to destroy marijuana fields that belong to the enemies. He goes around using a flamethrower and anything flammable to burn those fields down. It is very fitting, apart from the obvious title and the lyrics that are repeated, this track is mostly dubstep-based with reggae vibes and vocals from Damian Marley (reggae genre and his father Bob Marley are almost seen as the ambassadors for cannabis consumption.)
Types of music publishers
Similar to record labels, there are different types of these companies.
Major - These are the same as the "Big 3." Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing (largest in the world) and Warner/Chappell Music being the most known ones.
Major Affiliated - Independent companies that have deals with the majors. The majors end up handling their licensing administration. Example: EMI Music Publishing.
Indie - Independent companies that are not affiliated with the majors. They have no deals and run by themselves. They handle the licensing administration on their own. Example: Kobalt Music Group.
Writer-publishers - They are basically the composers that are working on their own and handle everything on their own. They get paid for their work that is used and nobody else takes a cut out of the income from the material used.
Licensing fees and royalties
Publishers usually get 50% of the profits made from the material they have represented. This is because the composer (original owner of the work) signed a deal with the publisher and gave away a portion of the copyright for a set amount of time. Back in the day, publishing companies kept the rights of a song forever. Nowadays though, the publishers usually get some of the rights of the material for a set amount of time. The full rights then return to the original owner who could potentially renew the publishing deal.
So how does it work?
For performance royalties, the composer gets affiliated with a performing rights organisation (PRS) They register the material directly with many collection societies and collect the royalties on their behalf. Then they can receive payments regularly which is easier and the composer gets a frequent income. This helps set up all the publishing royalties the owner is owned. This means that radio stations, or anybody who broadcasts their music pays PRS who then pay the owner/publisher.
For mechanical royalties, the composer/publisher is entitled to a royalty every time the material is reproduced (vinyl, tape, mp3 etc.) and this works for any work produced. These royalties are paid to publishers by the record labels.
Synchronization royalties get to the composer through the publisher. These are compositions that have been used in movies, TV etc.
Licensing fees and royalties
Publishers usually get 50% of the profits made from the material they have represented. This is because the composer (original owner of the work) signed a deal with the publisher and gave away a portion of the copyright for a set amount of time. Back in the day, publishing companies kept the rights of a song forever. Nowadays though, the publishers usually get some of the rights of the material for a set amount of time. The full rights then return to the original owner who could potentially renew the publishing deal.
So how does it work?
For performance royalties, the composer gets affiliated with a performing rights organisation (PRS) They register the material directly with many collection societies and collect the royalties on their behalf. Then they can receive payments regularly which is easier and the composer gets a frequent income. This helps set up all the publishing royalties the owner is owned. This means that radio stations, or anybody who broadcasts their music pays PRS who then pay the owner/publisher.
For mechanical royalties, the composer/publisher is entitled to a royalty every time the material is reproduced (vinyl, tape, mp3 etc.) and this works for any work produced. These royalties are paid to publishers by the record labels.
Synchronization royalties get to the composer through the publisher. These are compositions that have been used in movies, TV etc.
Example: Daft Punk's "Giorgio by Moroder" is used in an advert for the F1's Lotus driving team back in 2013. The team had Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean and Daft Punk have been seen walking about with them at the Monaco Grand Prix to support their own race car. The car was designed by Lotus and Columbia Records as a tribute to the French duo. Lotus and Daft Punk/Columbia Records have obviously used each other to gain more exposure. This was also the year that the highly anticipated Random Access Memories album came out.
The copyrights owned and administered by publishing companies are one of the most important forms of intellectual property in the music industry. The publishing companies can also sign a deal with a composer who would write new material from scratch. For example, if they needed a movie soundtrack, they would ask the composer to come up with a set amount of tracks and even guide them creatively.
The copyrights owned and administered by publishing companies are one of the most important forms of intellectual property in the music industry. The publishing companies can also sign a deal with a composer who would write new material from scratch. For example, if they needed a movie soundtrack, they would ask the composer to come up with a set amount of tracks and even guide them creatively.
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