Two copyrights: the song and the recording
Every release contains two copyrights. The recording, or master, belongs to whoever made or paid for it, and earns through your distributor or label. The composition, the music and lyrics, belongs to the songwriters, and earns separately, through collection societies and publishers.
Publishing is about the second one. If you write songs, you are owed publishing royalties every time they are streamed, broadcast, performed or put to picture, whoever recorded them. Music royalties explained covers both sides in full.
The royalties publishing collects
| Royalty | Paid when | Usually collected by |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | The song is played in public: radio, TV, venues, shops, concerts and, in many countries, streaming | Performing rights societies, such as PRS for Music in the UK or STIM in Sweden |
| Mechanical | The song is reproduced: streams, downloads, CDs and vinyl | Mechanical societies and collectives, such as The MLC for streaming and downloads in the US |
| Sync | The song is put to picture: film, TV, adverts, games | The publisher or administrator, with a fee agreed each time |
None of this goes through your distributor. Spotify, for example, pays publishing royalties to publishers, collection societies and mechanical agencies according to where the song was played. If your songs are not registered with them, that money does not find you.
Collection societies and The MLC
Most countries have at least one collection society that licenses music users and pays writers and publishers. They are linked through CISAC, the international confederation of authors' societies, which has over 225 member societies in more than 110 countries, covering music and other arts.
In the United States, mechanical royalties from streaming and download services are handled by The MLC, designated by the US Copyright Office under the Music Modernization Act of 2018. Since January 2021 it has administered blanket mechanical licences for those services, collected the royalties due and paid songwriters, composers, lyricists and publishers. Connecting with it is free.
Societies can only pay for songs they can identify. Some of what your songs earn reaches you through your local society; much of the money from other countries and from digital services only reaches writers whose songs are registered there, with the right writers and splits.
Administrator or publisher: who owns what
| Publishing administrator | Traditional publisher | |
|---|---|---|
| Your copyrights | Stay with you | Often partly transferred to the publisher |
| What they do | Register your songs and collect what they earn | Collect as well, and may fund, pitch and promote your songs |
| What they keep | A share of what they collect, for the length of the deal | A share of income and often of the copyright, in return for more work and sometimes an advance |
| Suits writers who | Want to keep their rights and be paid everywhere | Want active promotion of their songs and accept sharing ownership |
Whichever you choose, check how long the deal lasts, which territories it covers, what share is kept, and what happens to your songs when it ends.
Do I need a publisher or an administrator?
Not to own your songs. The copyright belongs to the writers whether or not anyone administers it. But someone has to register the songs and collect what they earn. Help is worth having if:
- Your songs are streamed or played in more than one country
- You co-write, and the splits need registering the same way everywhere
- You have never registered your songs, or are not sure which ones are registered
- Your music is used on YouTube or in other people's videos and you see no publishing income from it
If your music is played mainly in your own country and you have time for the paperwork, joining your local society can be enough to start with.
Can I be my own publisher?
Yes. If you have not signed your publishing to anyone, the publishing side of your songs is already yours. Being your own publisher means doing a publisher's work: registering every song with the right societies and collectives in each territory, keeping writers, splits and codes correct, and chasing what is missing.
Each society has its own rules and fees for publisher members, so check with yours before you set up a publishing name. An administrator is the middle way: you stay the owner, and the administrator does the registration and collection.
How to collect publishing royalties from Spotify
- Agree each song's writers and splits in writing
- Join a collection society as a writer, or let an administrator register you
- Register each song with its writers and splits, and link it to the recordings that use it
- For US streaming mechanicals, make sure the songs reach The MLC, directly or through your administrator
- Check your statements: songs that earn on Spotify should show up on your society or administrator statements too
Your distributor cannot do this for you, because it collects for the recording only. See how much Spotify pays per stream for how the two sides are paid.
Publishing administration at TempoDigital
TempoDigital's publishing administration registers your songs with more than 50 collection societies and pay sources across 215 territories, reviews those registrations regularly, and collects performance, mechanical, digital and sync income. You keep 100% of your rights.
Payouts are monthly, with statements that show where each amount came from, into the same wallet as your distribution and YouTube income. Apply for publishing and tell us about your songs.