Define 'publishing' and 'administering publishing'…

[angopop]

I’m in the process of submitting my music to my first library and I’m filling out all the song information.  I got to the publishing field and realize that I don’t fully understand that word ‘publishing’ as it pertains to music these days.

When I created my BMI account I also created my own Publishing Company, which I’ve never really used.

Now when I’m submitting my music, the library asks me to fill out the Publisher field — and I can use mine if I have one and want to use it, or I can use theirs.

Now, I understand that when I assign the publishing to the library, they can administer the publishing (what exactly does that mean, anyway?) and that is how that library will make money — ie: when someone buys my song from the music library site that 50% goes to me as the writer and 50% goes to that library as the publisher.

But they give me the option to put in my own publishing company and say that then I am responsible for cue sheets, etc… If someone chooses this option, how does the library make money?

I don’t think I’m understanding the word publishing.  I know that when an author’s book gets published, it gets printed and distributed and sold.  Back when George Gershwin was writing, when a song of his was published, a company printed up the sheet music and was distributed that way.

So I suppose my real questions are: What is publishing these days, and what should we know about it in regards to what we are all doing here — placing our music in music libraries? And how can multiple people publish the same piece of music?  And what does ‘administer publishing’ mean?

Arthur

PS. I did a search here for ‘publishing’, ‘definition of publishing’ etc… and didn’t come up with what I was looking for, so if it’s already been answered, apologies and perhaps someone can post a link to the page.

[Art Munson]

This thread will answer some questions for you.

PRO, re-titling and publishing – confused foreign newbie.

[angopop]

From the suggested post: "You're probably registered as writer with your PRO but unless you're registered (separately) as a publisher (for your own or even others' music) you don't receive any publishing royalties.
When a library licenses a track of yours that is non-exclusive they can register it under a new title (usually the original title with their own code) with the PRO and set themselves as publisher to earn 50%-100% of the publishing. That's how they make part of their revenue.
You still hold the rights to the "original" titled work, even if it isn't technically published, because you didn't give anyone an exclusive right to license it.
But if you also register as a publisher with your PRO (using whatever biz name/dba name you want) and then submit that track to be licensed exclusively by a single library, if it gets picked up, you can register that track with your PRO as both the writer and publisher, letting you collect both the writer and publisher percentages, for whatever that library's contract stipulated."

Ok, so first question … if I have set up a publishing company with BMI, and I submit a song to a non-exclusive library, why would they allow me to be the publisher if they won’t make any money off my music?

If I did put myself down as publisher would I then receive 50% as the writer, 25% as the publisher and then the library would then get the other 25%?

[Art Munson]

Typically on a non-exclusive the library will re-title the song, register that title with BMI with you as composer and they as publisher. That gives them the publishing income.

[angopop]

Thanks Art, well that makes sense.

I was wondering why a library would allow me to use my publishing company, wouldn’t that take away their income from my song?

[MichaelL]

Non-exclusive re-titling libraries do not administer your publishing. They re-title your music and make money from their publishing.

Non-exclusive royalty free libraries, generally  make their money from upfront license fees not back-end publishing royalties.

However, AudioSparx, specifically offers composers the option of having them administer their publishing. In that case they do take a percentage of your publishing in addition to a percentage of the sync fee.

With respect to what “administration” means you can ask them, or get Donald S. Passman’s All You Need to Know About the Music Business, or Jeff and Todd Brabec’s Music Money and Success.

[Kenny]

"You're probably registered as writer with your PRO but unless you're registered (separately) as a publisher (for your own or even others' music) you don't receive any publishing royalties.

Maybe I`m far out here, but as far as I know this is not true. If there is no publishing registered for a track, then the composer will get the whole 200% of the track I think. Both the writers share and 100% of the publishing.

Please correct me if I`m wrong here.

[woodsdenis]

Maybe I`m far out here, but as far as I know this is not true. If there is no publishing registered for a track, then the composer will get the whole 200% of the track I think. Both the writers share and 100% of the publishing.
Please correct me if I`m wrong here.

Depends which PRO you are with. In Ireland and UK (IMRO/PRS) you do not need a publishing entity to collect your “publishers share”.
Also over here we view a song as 100%. A writer can never get less than 50%. There fore publishing splits are described as 50/50, 70/30 etc. If there is no publisher, the writer is assigned 100% ( to reiterate thats ALL of the income ) and it is distributed like that.
The American system is a little bit confusing with there is a writers 100% and a publishers 100%. Bizarrely a song now is 200% !!!
It assumes that a publisher is automatically assigned 50% of the pie , which certainly isnt the case these days. It gets very confusing when there is a 75/25 split ( as we see it) and it is described in the States as the writer getting their share plus 50% of the publishing share.

[angopop]

However, AudioSparx, specifically offers composers the option of having them administer their publishing. In that case they do take a percentage of your publishing in addition to a percentage of the sync fee.

Does it still add up to 50% of the revenue?  If so, what is the difference between AudioSparx being the publisher and AudioSparx allowing the writer to be the publisher?

 

[MichaelL]

Does it still add up to 50% of the revenue?  If so, what is the difference between AudioSparx being the publisher and AudioSparx allowing the writer to be the publisher?

It’s the other way around. On the royalty free level you are allowing AudioSparx to be the publisher, if you chose to have them administer your publishing. Like I said, you need to ask them what they mean by administer and how much of the publishing percentage they take. My understanding, if you go that route, is that they administer your catalog no matter what library it’s in.

[angopop]

Thanks Michael, I’ll ask them to clarify.

Just out of curiosity, for those libraries that offer you a choice, what do most of you choose (whether to be the publisher or let the library be the publisher) and why?

[AudioSparx]

Hi All,
We prefer if you would click the CONTACT link at AudioSparx so we can respond quickly to any questions.
If you decide to allow AudioSparx to administer publishing, we administer publishing ONLY for the music tracks you upload to our website, and only for the licenses we place.  If we administer your tracks on a non-exclusive basis, then we retitle the track during registration at the PRO by appending “AALIBRARY” to the title.  As performance royalties are earned, the composer(s) of the track receive the composer’s share, and AudioSparx receives the publisher’s share.
For detailed info, please log in and you can review an in-depth article at
http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/kb/article/show.cfm/kbarticle_iid.2398/aatemp.0
Regards,
Lee Johnson
http://www.audiosparx.com

[Author]

Posts