In this week’s session we will be looking at the evolution of music publishing over the centuries, what a publisher is supposed to do for a writer (and what it actually does in reality), and how it’s possible to work as a writer without using a publisher at all.
But first, it’s important to recap on one of the fundamental principles in the music industry; copyright. In every recording you’ve ever heard or bought, there are two copyrights:
- The copyright that exists in the recording
- The copyright that exists in the composition
Music Publishers are companies that are interested in acquiring and exploiting the copyrights in compositions. They don’t sign recording artist per se, they don’t usually make records, shoot videos or commission remixes. They simply sign up writers (who may or may not be recording artists in their own right) and songs, collect the money that’s generated by the use of their songs and occasionally help to place songs in adverts, movies and TV programs.
How did Music Publishing begin?
Music Publishing
began in a similar way to how the recording industry began, and only developed into a large scale business with the advent of the printing press in the fifteenth century. Publishers originally simply printed and distributed manuscripts of music, usually church music on a small scale and usually only locally. Through time, and with the development of copyright in the early seventeenth century, publishers expanded their business interests to include not only the duplication of manuscripts but the enforcement and collection of payments from the use of performing rights and mechanical rights.
Manuscripts
Before the invention of the printing press, duplicating manuscripts was a laborious task that required scribes to copy pre-existing works by hand. This meant that large scale distribution of works was difficult and it was unlikely that your work could be copied by an unauthorised scribe. However, the printing press enabled print owners to duplicate manuscripts easily and quickly; initially the legal right to reproduce works in this manner were limited to specified scholars and musicians by the reigning monarch. As copyright enabled the trade and assignment of rights to individuals and companies rather than specific companies with royal assent, the modern market for manuscripts evolved. In the 21st Century, the printing of manuscripts is still an important activity for many publishers.
Performing Rights
Although copyright had existed in compositions and their manuscripts for some time, the legal concept of paying writers the for the use of their work in a theatre did not occur until the eighteenth century in France, where Pierre Beaumarchais, a French musician, inventor and diplomat founded the organisation "Bureau de legislation Dramatique" to which theatres agreed to pay playwrights a portion of their takings to the Society. However, it was not until seventy years later that payments were agreed for composers too.
Mechanical Rights
With the invention of sound recording by Thomas Edison, a new market for recorded music evolved in the early twentieth century. The concept of ‘mechanical rights’, essentially a payment for the use of a composition embodied in a ‘mechanism’ developed.
What does a Publisher do?
The role of a Music Publisher is to collect the monies due to the songwriter for the use of their compositions. This can include payments for:
- Use of songs embodied in recordings sold to the public
- Use of songs embodied in recordings used in commercials
- Use of songs embodied in recordings used in TV programs or Movies
- Use of songs embodied in recordings that are broadcast
- Use of songs performed to the public
The publisher will normally pay an advance to the writer as an incentive for the writer to assign their copyrights to the publisher. The publisher will then control the compositions assigned for a period of time which can be as short as a couple of years to many decades.
The publisher may also be expected to be involved in licensing the compositions for use in commercials, movies and TV shows. When the songs are used in this manner this is known as a ‘sync’, short for the synchronisation of audio and video.
Is it necessary for a writer to use a publisher?
The short answer to this question is no. It’s entirely possible for a writer to avoid working with a publisher and collect the money due to them without a publisher’s help. A writer can join collection societies as a ‘writer member’ and the societies will account to the writer directly.