- Music publishing refers to the contractual relationship between a songwriter or music composer and a music publisher, where the writer assigns part or all of his copyrights to the publisher in for the publisher's commercial exploitation of the music. Though music publishing is governed by U.S. copyright law, a lot of the law of music publishing is negotiated through private contracts.
- Before the time of recorded music, the income made by publishers and songwriters was made primarily through the selling sheet music. But with the advent of musical recordings, songs were exploited in many ways through different types of media such as radio, television and film. The music publisher became a powerful "middleman" entity between the recording companies and the music maker or songwriters.
- The music publisher customarily demands the full copyright of a song (as well as half of the royalties) from the songwriter. In return, the publisher works to get the song recorded by a performer, placed in movies or on television. The publisher also usually assumes the full responsibility of collecting all royalties due and passing to the songwriter their share.
- Some music publishers solely operate in the capacity of song exploitation and royalty collection. While others may also get involved in the recording of songs as well as their sale and distribution. Though the latter are more often referred to as record companies and not music publishers.
- One of the most lucrative areas of music publishing is performance royalties. These royalties are paid any time the song is played on the radio, in a movie, on television or even used in a club by a disc jockey. Songs that gain popularity can bring in to the music publisher thousands and sometimes millions in these types of royalties.
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