Thread by @TheGsmart

📍📍Now let's talk about music publishing deals. 🎵🤝

Publishing contracts deal with the "songwriting" side of the music business rather than the recording side. (Refer to the original thread below if you need clarity).

x.com/TheGsmart/stat…
#Thread 1/23 x.com/TheGsmart/stat…

As an artist, while you may not own the masters under your record deal, the one thing you do own is your songwriting catalogue alongside every other person who contributed to the songs.

That includes your co-writers (if there are any), the producer (beat maker), and everyone else who contributed to the lyrics, melody and beat/instrumental. Where it's just one songwriter and the producer, there's usually a 50-50 split subject to agreement.

Everyone who contributed to the song therefore owns a piece and holds the copyright. Revenue sources for the song would include: Public performance royalties— earned from radio plays, live performances at venues, and use in business establishments like retail stores and bars.

Mechanical Royalties: royalties payable to songwriters and publishers when compositions are reproduced and sold in physical formats (CDs and vinyls), digital formats (digital downloads) and through on-demand streaming.

Sync placements: use of compositions in advertising, TV shows, and movies.

Others include samples/interpolations, sale of sheet music, etc. (More on revenue sources later)

Some of these revenue sources however aren't automatic and have to be actively exploited. This is why songwriters and composers sign publishing deals with music publishing companies that can help exploit their catalogue in exchange for a fee/split.

There are different types of publishing deals as we are about to see. They include administration deals, traditional publishing deals, co-publishing deals, single-song agreements, and sub-publishing agreements.

Traditional publishing deals typically involve the FULL assignment of copyright to the publishing company, allowing them to fully exploit, administer, license, and collect royalties due to the songs and compositions by the songwriter from the appropriate sources.......

This is usually facilitated by a huge advance.
Per the deal, the publisher keeps 100% of its publishing share while the writer only gets the writer's share of performance monies, as paid by the performance rights organizations (PROs). (More on this later)

Traditional deals aren't as common anymore because songwriters aren't exactly thrilled by the idea of having little to no control over their compositions and what gets done with them.

They can also be very aggressive and predatory and some of the language can keep the songwriters in the deal for too long. A real-life example is a 2007 publishing deal that accomplished HIpHop producer, Hit Boy just got out of, thanks to help from Jay-Z.

https://x.com/Hit_Boy/status/1950010259814129703?t=qqjkgSji4QuHGdWPzXzUIw&s=19

Co-publishing deals are the more popular option these days as they only involve a partial assignment of copyright to the publisher who in turn handles exploitation, licensing, and collection while the songwriter(s)/composer(s) retains some ownership and creative control.

Under co-pub deals, the songwriter also keeps his writer's share and a negotiated percentage of the publisher's share (usually 50%). As usual, the publishing company would typically furnish an impressive advance against future royalties. (Non-returnable but recoupable)

Other terms to be agreed on include audit rights, approval rights, accounting periods, duration(term), etc. The term clause would typically provide for a retention period allowing the company a few more years to retain the songs assigned during the term in order to fully recoup.

Administration deals involve zero transfer of copyright. The admin in this case is only responsible for registering songs, collecting royalties, and reporting dutifully to the songwriter in exchange for a small percentage or flat fee. This means no advance and shorter terms.

Songwriters can also make single-song deals. This is best suited for cases where a songwriter intends to fully exploit a song from their catalogue that has been "blowing up". A perfect deal for the TikTok era, where any old song can re-emerge as fresh as a pretty little baby. 🎵

A single-song deal would help the songwriter collect all royalties accruing to the "hot"song from various quarters on terms clearly agreed with the administrator/publisher.

Lastly, a sub-publishing deal is between a publisher and another publisher in a foreign country (sub-publisher) for the collection of royalties due to its compositions from the foreign country. This is done in exchange for a fair percentage.

This type is often utilized by publishers who do not have enough foothold in certain countries to efficiently and accurately track and collect royalties. The percentage charged by the sub-pubs may however be borne by the songwriter, depending on the agreement.

Songwriters can resist this during negotiations by asking for an "at source" remittance of foreign income, especially where it's a big and powerful publishing company with branches all over the world. This allows the songwriters to avoid multiple deductions on foreign monies.

Truth is, publishing deals are an amazing way to exploit any songwriter's catalogue. However, there is more to these deals than meets the regular eye and things can go pretty south pretty fast. Hence, you NEED to get a music lawyer involved in the negotiations.

If you made it this far, I hope you have learned a thing or two, especially if you are a creative in the music business. More to come.✌️🥂

✍️Gbolahan Ibironke,
IP/Entertainment Lawyer

@threadreaderapp unroll