Topic of the Month (or so)

OK, so maybe this isn't a "weekly" topic. Give me some slack here, I'm trying to run a business! Just kidding. I'll try to be "weekly", but I need input from you on what you want to hear about. Drop me a line. Otherwise, I'll just ramble on about what I think is interesting.

But first some disclaimers . I just wanted to let you know that the information presented in these commentaries is not specific to every situation. I recommend that you see an attorney to get more detailed and fact-specific advice. What I am providing is a base of knowledge from which I expect you to get the correct advice and guidance. I also do not intend to give advice to those individuals located in states in which I am not licensed to practice law.

And now, on with the good stuff.

If you want to check out one of the past weekly topics, click on one of the listings in the table below:

Why Get a Publishing Deal?

Well, why not? Unlike a record deal, not every artist looks to get a publishing deal. Not every artist needs a publishing deal. Hell, Sting held the rights to his songs himself until fairly recently and is the better for it. His songs are worth truckloads of money these days. How much do you think he would have been paid if he would have signed away his publishing back before The Police became huge? Probably not much, I can tell you that. Am I saying that every songwriter should hold onto his publishing and never give it away until they are huge stars? Absolutely not. In a perfect world I would recommend that the songwriter keep all of his rights in and to his songs. However, since most songwriters won't make money, it may make sense to cut a publishing deal now, especially when the landlord is threatening eviction!

You have to understand what a publisher does before you can really make an informed decision about signing a publishing deal. A publisher can serve many purposes. Publishers can get songs placed in film, TV, advertisements and the like. Publishers can assist in getting a recording deal for a songwriter that is also a performing artist. Publishers can get a writer's songs recorded by recording artists. Publishers can (and should), collect and distribute monies due and owing to the songwriter. If you think you can do all of this and have a career, more power to you. I would recommend that you retain ownership of your own publishing rights. In most cases, however, the songwriter or artist, if successful, will not want to deal with this part of their business. Generally the songwriter wants to write songs, not collect money and plug those songs.

Publishers have one overall guiding force which motivates them. They need the songs they own to be recorded and played. That's how publishers make money. They collect royalties and income due to their songwriters for radio play, use of songs in ads, movies, TV, jukeboxes, etc. Under most publishing deals, the publisher retains a portion of that income as an owner or co-owner of the song. In certain circumstances, the publisher takes a percentage of the monies it collects simply for collecting the monies and the publisher does not actively place songs. These types of publishing deals, called Administration deals, are uncommon unless you are a superstar.

So the publisher wants your songs to be played. It may be better to allow them to "plug" your songs because they have the connections and ties that you, as a songwriter, may not have. In fact, since it is their job to know who needs songs, they are most likely a hell of a lot more equipped to get songs placed than you are. Now, in the field of rock music and rap, where artists generally write their own material, the need for a publisher is not as evident, except that somone still needs to collect the monies owed to the songwriter. But hey, you could probably hire someone to work for your own publishing company and try to collect these monies. It's entirely possible that this might work for you. If you don't want to deal with the hassle, however, maybe you should think about a publishing deal.

Beware, however, of independent music publishers or, rather, people who hold themselves out as music publishers. Part of the practice of crooks in this business is to buy songs from songwriters for little or no money when these so-called "publishers" really aren't publishers in the true sense. Anyone can own songs and call themself a publisher. Real publishers make money for their clients. Crooks get ownership rights to the songs, then try to ransom them off to a real publisher later. This happens a lot with independent record labels. And I use the term record labels lightly. Again these crooks propose recording deals to songwriter/artists and throw publishing clauses in the agreement, transferring complete ownership in the songs to the record company's publishing arm. Now the artist is stuck in more ways than one. If the artist gets the attention of a real record company, that real record company now has to buy out the independent record company, when the independent record company probably did absolutely nothing for the artist. Beware of deals like this. Some smaller labels are legitimate, don't get me wrong, but keep an eye out for the labels that take all of your publishing rights. They usually don't give additional consideration for taking these rights anyway.

The trick in all of this is to try to wait until AFTER you have a deal to sign a publishing agreement. Before you sign a deal, you might figure that no one else is offering you anything and this guy is going to throw you some bucks, and you need money, so you'd better sign off on that thing now. This is common. Don't think publishers don't know you need the money. They know. That's why they can get you to sign away your life for a couple thousand bucks. Now, if you need the money, go ahead and sign. It's a good way to keep food on the table and the lights on. Just beware who you sign with. If EMI Music Publishing offered you a deal, you could feel safe taking it. If Joe Bob's Publishing offers you a deal, do a background check on the company before giving away your life.

In the next topic, I think I'll discuss some basic strategies in negotiating your publishing deal, and what the different kinds of deals are. Bottom line is, if you sign a publishing deal, try to get a reversion of the rights back to you in a number of years. It's damn hard to get, but try anyway, especially with the smaller companies. What this does is allows you to get back your songs later on, so that some slimeball doesn't own you for you entire life, especially not for a couple hundred or even a couple thousand dollars.

Again, I hope this sheds some light on things for you.

As always, feedback is always welcome.

Joel Press

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