ADVANTAGES OF WORKING WITH A MUSIC PUBLISHER

• The most important function of a music publisher is to promote songs to licensees (record label executives, independent music artistes, music producers, music supervisors, advertising companies, telecommunication companies, etc) to help get your music re-recorded by a music artiste or used be in films, etc.

• A good music publisher will have contacts and experience allowing her to promote songs to the maximum number of potential licensees and negotiate good terms for their use unlike if you as an independent songwriter do the running around by yourself.

• A good publisher will also stay on top of industry developments and actively seek out new sources of income. Without access to industry contacts, publications and experience, an independent songwriter may be unable to place music with licensees at favorable terms. It is most likely that you will be cheated.

• All these different kinds of licenses and royalties require that the publisher creates, receive and review a lot of paperwork consisting of various contracts, forms and royalty statements. All of these contracts  are complex in nature. Forgetting about or making an error on a form or contract can mean a loss of royalties for you and your heirs.

• The music publisher will also ensure that a cue sheet, listing every song used in the film has been provided to the performing rights societies, allowing the writers and publishers to receive additional royalties each time the film is broadcast on television or cable channels. 

• After the music publisher negotiates a license, he collects the fee from the licensee, keeps the publisher's share (usually 50%) and forwards the rest to the songwriter or heir at the end of each royalty period (usually every six months). The task of collecting royalties from a large number of licensees and forwarding the correct percentages to the correct writers and heirs, can be labor and paperwork-intensive. If a particular licensee doesn't pay the agreed-upon fee, a publisher may have an attorney or specialized collections person on staff to go after them. An individual songwriter will not have the knowledge and resources to do these.

• A music publisher also has foreign affiliates to collect royalties on foreign uses. For example, a TV show or film produced in one country may eventually be shown on cable channels in many different countries. Foreign affiliates are better equipped than the songwriter or original publisher to become aware of such uses and ensure that the proper royalties are paid. The foreign affiliates collect royalties in their territories, keep their cuts, then forward the royalties to the Nigerian publisher, who keeps a cut and pays the songwriter the balance.

• Another reason to have a publisher is that many potential licensees don't want to deal with individual songwriters. For example, if you called up Kiss Daniel's record label and said "I just wrote a song and I will like Kiss Daniel to sing it."Just like that? I doubt they will be interested. Even if G-Worldwide Entertainment agrees to use your song, you will certainly not get the best deal without a music publisher. 

In my next blog, I will explain what it means for a song to be in the public domain.

I remain musically yours,

DJ Irawo

Cheers!