10/27/2020 Music publisher - Wikipedia

Music publisher
Music publishing is the publishing of 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.

Contents
Music print publishing
Other media
Intellectual property management
The music publisher's role
Publishing disputes
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links

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:

Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, founded 1719

Schott, Mainz, 1770
Oxford University Press, Oxford, founded 18th century
Edition Peters, Leipzig, 1800
Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag, Leipzig, founded 1807
Casa Ricordi, Milan, founded 1808
G. Schirmer, Inc., New York, founded 1861
Ernst Eulenburg, Leipzig, founded 1874
Zimmermann, founded 1876
Universal Edition, Vienna, 1901
Bärenreiter, founded 1923
Dr. J. Butz, Bonn, founded 1924
Boosey & Hawkes, London, founded 1930
Hans Sikorski, Hamburg, 1935
PWM, Kraków, founded 1945
G. Henle Verlag, Munich, founded 1948[1]
Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart, founded 1972
Edition Güntersberg, Heidelberg, founded 1990
Hänssler
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Other media

Intellectual property management

In the music industry, a music publisher or publishing company is responsible for ensuring the
songwriters and composers receive payment when their compositions are used commercially.
Through an agreement called a publishing contract, a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright
of their composition to a publishing company. In return, the company licenses compositions, helps
monitor where compositions are used, collects royalties and distributes them to the composers. They
also secure commissions for music and promote existing compositions to 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 master recording
which is typically owned by 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: mechanical royalties derive from the sale of recorded music, such
as CDs or digital downloads. These royalties are paid to publishers by record companies (through the
Harry Fox Agency as well as through American Mechanical Rights Agency (http://www.amermechrig
hts.com) in the U.S.). Performance royalties are collected by performance rights organizations such
as SESAC, BMI, ASCAP or PRS and are paid by radio stations and others who broadcast recorded
music; and are paid by venues, event organizers for live performances of the compositions.
Synchronization royalties are required when a composition is used in a film or television soundtrack.
These royalties typically pass through the hands of a music publisher before they reach the composer.

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 soundtracks and commercials. They
will typically also handle copyright registration and "ownership" matters for the composer. Music
print publishers also supervise the issue of 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, as the
case may be. 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 Norman Petty and Phil Spector), and
occasionally a publisher will insist on writer's credit (as Morris Levy did with several of his acts);
these practices are listed in ascending order of scrupulousness, as regarded by the music industry.

The most unscrupulous type of music publisher is the songshark, who does little if any real "legwork"
or promotion on behalf of songwriters. Songsharks make their profit not on royalties from sales, but
by charging inexperienced writers for "services" (some real, such as demo recording or musical
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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, isn't wrong to do
so.)

Rock-n-roll pioneer Buddy Holly split with longtime manager Norman 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 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 the Beatles' breakup was when their publisher Dick James sold his share of Northern
Songs, the company they'd formed with him in 1963 (then taken public in 1967, with shares trading
on the London Stock Exchange), to Britain's 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
Transcription (music)
List of record labels

Notes
1. "Home / G. Henle Verlag" (https://www.henle.de/us/). www.henle.de. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
2. "What is music publishing?" (http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/FAQ). music publishers association.

Further reading
Kepper, Johannes (2011). Musikedition im Zeichen neuer Medien: historische Entwicklung und
gegenwärtige Perspektiven musikalischer Gesamtausgaben (https://books.google.com/books?id=
C5C2_2TzTq4C) (in German). Books on Demand. ISBN 9783844800760.
Krasilovsky, M. William; Shemel, Sidney; Gross, John M.; Feinstein, Jonathan (2007), This
Business of Music (10th ed.), Billboard Books, ISBN 0-8230-7729-2

External links
Starting A Music Publishing Company (http://www.musicpowers.com/publishing.html)
Beware of the Song Shark (https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/Beware_the_Song_Shark_)

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