Keen on Music Publishing
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being my own publisher?
Using the Covey principle of beginning with the end in mind can really help with this dilemma 1[1]. What do you want to happen with your songs? Where do you want them to end up? Are you an independent artist who is living out your dream of recording and selling your own CDs? Then it makes perfect sense for you to be your own publisher.
However if you want, for example, other people to record your songs or you want your songs used in movies and television or you want your songs included in church music projects then ask yourself these questions; do I have the contacts to make that happen on my own? Do I want to spend the energy, time and resources to develop those kinds of contacts? If your answer to either of these questions is, "no" then consider hiring someone else to do it.
The "hiring" we speak of is acquiring the creative services of a great publisher. In the Holy Bible, Jesus says, "–for the worker deserves his wages" (Luke 10:7) so it is appropriate to compensate those whose work creates opportunity and income for us. That is the rationale behind the standard publishing contract that divides the royalties of a song between the publisher and writer. They are a team, a partnership and each party provides a unique and valuable service to the other.
We often hear a beginner writer say something like, "I'm not splittin' half of my money with any publisher!" We understand that it
feels like you are giving a large portion of money away. But we don't think that's a particularly accurate or productive point of view. If a publisher is credible, has great connections, integrity and a strong work ethic then they will be creating income for you that wouldn't happen otherwise. It is "found money" and that is worth a lot! They have earned their portion of the royalties from your song(s).
The key is to do your best to ascertain that any publisher interested in working with you is legitimate and can do things for you that you can't do, or don't want to take time to do for yourself. To restate a point made earlier, if you have the time, talent and energy to perform the tasks of a great publisher then by all means, do it and keep all the royalties that you create! But, if you want to spend most of your time writing the songs and leave the other tasks necessary to another party then it could be worth it to have another party fulfill those needs and to pay them for it.
If you do choose to be your own publisher, recognize that you need to be thorough in the clerical tasks of copyright registration and licensing. Mistakes in the seemingly trivial details of these areas can potentially result in the loss of sizable royalty income. If you have the aptitudes and desire to handle these tasks there are forms and tables in this tutorial that can help you do a great job! We suggest that you read carefully the answers to the FAQs concerning recording other writers songs on a CD or DVD and 'How Royalites are Created'.
Copyright 2007 Dan Keen. All Rights Reserved
1[1] Covey, S., (1989)
The7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York, NY:
Simon & Schuster
