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Publishing agreements are between the author(s)  of a musical composition and a music publisher, and concern ownership and administration rights associated with the copyright of a musical composition(s).  A music publisher’s role is to find users for a song, issue licenses for its use, collect money in exchange for such use, and pass on a portion of the money collected to the song’s author.  In exchange for this, a writer will sign over 50% of their copyright in the song  to the publisher (under a publishing agreement)  or  only the right to administer the publishing part of their copyright for them (a publishing administration agreement) .

Note that an author can only assign the percentage of the copyright they own in a song.  For example, if one song has two writers and each own an equal interest in the song, each writer can only assign their own 50% stake to a publisher.

There is also a distinction drawn between agreements that are for a single song, and those called exclusive term contracts. A single song agreement will assign the publishing right of only one musical composition to the publisher.  An exclusive term contract will usually hand over publishing rights for a catalogue of songs for a specific period of time. There are also a variety of agreements that will fall somewhere in between these two types.

What is included

A standard publishing agreement outlines how the author will be paid by the publisher after royalties and licensing fees have been collected. The agreement will include what proportion of royalties will be held by the publisher and what proportion will go to the artist. Traditionally, the publisher will split all income received from the song 50/50 with the author , but often it is now a 75/25 split in favour of writer under a publishing agreement and a 85/15 split under an administration agreement. The agreement may also stipulate what types of uses of the music are acceptable to the author. For example, if the publishing agreement contains no clause about licensing the music for commercial purposes, the publisher could use the music in a television ad without first asking the artist. Therefore, it’s important to keep in mind that a publishing agreement is important for both the author’s livelihood and artistic integrity.

In most publishing contracts, the grant of rights is for the full duration of copyright in the songs transferred. This means that the publisher will own 50% of the songs for the full duration of copyright (which lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years in the US and the life of the author plus 50 years in Canada). More and more, however, authors may assign the copyright to a publisher for only a limited time, or have an administration-only agreement (described above) with a publisher whereby they hold on to the song’s copyright.  Authors may also be able to negotiate a return of copyright in songs. For example, a writer might try to get a publisher to agree that if a song assigned to them is not recorded and released on a record, used in a movie or television show, etc, within a specified time period, the copyright reverts back to the writer.

For the writer without a publisher…

If a writer does not have a music publisher, they will negotiate directly with those who want to license their work.  In relation to performance rights and mechanical licenses (a description of these coming soon to this website), a writer can become a member of SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada) and CMRRA (The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Limited), which will collect and distribute to them royalties owed.  Whether or not a writer has a publisher, they can register with these organizations.

Questions to consider when negotiating a publishing agreement:

Does the publisher have the right to change the title of the song(s) and/or revise lyrics?

If the writer is concerned with the artistic integrity of their work, they can ensure that the publisher has no right to alter the work without consent in the agreement.

Is the publisher required to get approval from the writer for synchronization licenses (use of music in film, TV and jingles)?

If there isn’t a consultation requirement written into the publishing agreement, a publisher can license the song or song catalogue to any commercial or artistic project, even if the author disapproves of such use of their work. Nevertheless, it may not always be practical for writers to have full approval rights written into their synch agreements. These licenses are often lucrative but require a quick turn around.Therefore a lot of agreements give the writer 5 days to approve the use, or approval is deemed to have been, given.

What percentage of the money made off the song or song catalogue is the publisher entitled to? 

Most artist contracts grant around 50% to a publisher, but it does not mean that negotiations can't be done to alter this percentage.

When there is more than one writer on a song, are the song splits clearly identified?

(e.g. Songwriter XX - 33.33%; Songwriter XY - 33.33%; Songwriter XZ - 33.34%)

Most contracts will have this clearly identified and accurate in the agreement, for many reasons, including the disinterest many have in paying for a license with unclear splits.

How long is the term of the agreement? 

Administration agreements can last anywhere from one year to sometimes, fifteen years.