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What Songwriters Need To Know About Publishing Income -- Part 1

© Janie Ross Coulter

[The other night I attended a Songwriters' Hall of Fame/National Academy of Popular Music Songwriter Night, which is held every month or so at Makor ( 35 West 67th Street) in New York City. The evening featured Evan Lamberg, who is Executive Vice President, Creative, at EMI Music Publishing. He works with and has signed such artists as Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20, Hooty and The Blowfish, 98 Degrees, and Sean Puffy Combs. Lamberg's work with the EMI songwriting staff has led to their songs being placed with such artists as Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Vanessa Williams, and Amy Grant. The information in this article is largely based on Lamberg's comments.]

Lamberg introduced the subject of music publishing by describing it as one of the most misunderstood aspects of the music business. For example, what does it really mean to have a song published? In fact, the minute your song is embodied in some kind of medium -- sheet music, CD, eight track -- and is commercially available to be purchased, you have published your music. That does not mean that you have to be signed to a major record label. Even if you've played at a local club and sold your CDs in the back of the room, your songs are published.

Now let's say you've written a song, it's embodied on a record, and somebody's cut the song. Whether you are the publisher or you’ve signed all or part of the publishing rights to someone else, there are four main ways that publishers make money.

1. Mechanical royalties. A mechanical royalty is paid for sales of records from the manufacturer of the record (a record label, for a prime example) to the publisher. (Sometimes the writer and the publisher are one in the same, and sometimes the writer is signed to a publisher who is a separate entity.) The Harry Fox Agency is the expert in collecting mechanical royalties and is used by most publishers. In turn, once paid, the publisher has a separate deal with the writer and accounts to him or her. (Half always goes to the writer. The rest is divided according to the publishing deal.) The statutory rate, which stands today at 7.55 cents in the U.S., adjusts every two years by an inflation index. Say you have a song on a Whitney Houston album and you've written 100 percent of it and have published it yourself. Every time one Whitney Houston album is sold, you get 7.55 cents. (In foreign countries, the publisher usually gets paid a percentage of the retail price. This can sometimes end up being more income than in this country, especially in countries like Japan, where a CD can sell for up to $30.) If the writer has written half the song, and there are two writers and two publishers, and the split on the song is 50-50, that 7.55 cents is split in half, etc.

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