What About Publishing? A Sound Guide for Songwriters

WHAT ABOUT PUBLISHING?

A Sound Guide for Songwriters

The subject of publishing can be a mysterious area of interest to young bands and songwriters. But its fundamental feature is relatively simple: publishers are companies who administer the rights of songwriters and composers. This guide will introduce you to publishing; when to look for a publishing deal and how to go about the different stages of preparation and approach.

What publishers do

Publishing companies exist to administer the rights of songwriters and composers. They collect mechanical and performance royalties when the songs are recorded or performed and pay them on to the composer. For this service they take a share of the money, according to the terms of the writer's contract with them. This part of a publisher's job is exactly the same as the work done by PRS and MCPS (see our guide "What about Royalties?" for more information about these collection societies). Most publishers are members of these societies and will use them to collect their clients' money to some extent. That means they pay commission to them in the same way that you as an individual would - and then deduct their own commission on top. At this point, you may be wondering why people bother with publishers at all.

Where you win

Where you win with a publisher is that they will be actively selling your songs. If you're a songwriter, that means that they will work to place your songs with major recording artists - something that's very hard to do on your own. If you're a band, they will work to place your songs in adverts, films and TV programmes, which can be a handy extra source of income. In either case, they will often pay you advances on your publishing royalties to keep you going until your career takes off.

A publisher can also help develop your career. That might be through simply giving you advice, or by putting you with co-writers to improve your songwriting skills, and maybe even paying for studio time or touring costs.

You may also win because they will track your royalties - making sure that you've been paid everything that you are due. This would be virtually impossible to do by yourself, given that your song could be played anywhere in the world. You don't need a publisher to be able to query payments with the collection societies but you may need some help keeping track of usage. If you can't spot potential errors, then you can't query them. That goes double if your songs are being used heavily abroad. A collection society will simply pass on the money collected on your behalf in, say, Australia, through reciprocal arrangements with collection agencies over there. A major publisher will have a representative over there who will check that the money matches the likely usage of the song and chase it up if not. A smaller publisher will have an agreement with a company in Australia - known as a sub-publisher - who will do this for them.

The song is all

In the music industry, songwriting is where the money is. It's by exploiting your rights as a creator - and therefore the original copyright owner - of music that you can make a tidy living as an artist. After a band has fallen apart and the limousines have gone off to pick up the Next Big Thing, the songs don't go away. And neither does the talent that created them. Many writers carry on writing songs for others to perform long after the spotlight has gone off to point at someone else. Cathy Dennis and Andy McCluskey of OMD are examples of pop stars developing successful backroom songwriting careers; Dennis wrote Kylie's 'Can't Get You Out of My Head', McCluskey has written most of the songs for Atomic Kitten.

Publishers deal with songs rather than recordings of them, which gives them a rather different view of the world from record companies. They can afford to take a longer term view of an artist's career because they don't have to recover recording costs from studios and producers.

Unsigned bands

If you perform the music that you write, either with a band or as a solo artist, there are two main times in your career when you're likely to want to sign with a publisher. The first is early on, before you sign a record deal. A publishing deal at this point can be of enormous benefit. Having a publisher on your side when approaching labels can open a lot of doors for you. A publisher's knowledge of the industry and the people who work within it will also help you ensure that the record deal you sign is the right one for you.

With unsigned bands, a publisher may also offer a degree of development for a band. Major publishers, and several of the smaller ones, have their own studios and will give bands time in them to prepare a better quality demo than they'd probably afford on their own. Larger publishers may also offer a limited number of bands full Development Deals where they will assist in building their profile to a wider audience than record companies. They may help find you a promotion or plugging agency or fund things like buying equipment and touring. By creating more of a buzz, they'll up your bargaining power so your final record deal may give you more control of your career or more favourable terms when it comes to dividing up the money.

Signed bands

The other likely time to sign a publishing deal is after you get signed. At this point, it's mostly about money. You'll be looking for a publisher who will be able to make the most of the commercial potential of your songs by selling them for other uses and who can keep track of the royalties that you're owed. As a band with a record deal, you will almost certainly be able to secure better terms for your deal than an unsigned band would, although you'll still have to find a balance. If you take a huge advance, it almost certainly means that the company will want to offer you a lower royalty rate, so you'll get a lower share of the profits overall. You're passing up a long-term gain for a short-term reward. How it all comes out in the end will depend a lot on the scale of your recording deal. If you've been picked up by a major, you might well be able to secure a large advance and still get a reasonable rate, but you'll still have to compromise somewhere.

Songwriters

If you're a songwriter who doesn't plan to perform their material but wants to write songs for others artists, a publishing deal is more or less a necessity, especially if you're looking to place songs with major artists. A good publishing company will get frequent approaches from producers and record labels looking for material for their artists to perform and this is where you can start making some serious money. The exception to this may be if you write music for TV. With the proliferation of cable and satellite channels, there's more of this kind of work around but programme budgets are tighter. They may look for writers without deals as they can then negotiate lower broadcast royalty payments.

As a writer, your publisher will probably encourage you to collaborate with the other writers they have on their books. Most writers find this a refreshing and productive experience and it's a great way to develop your confidence and ability. You can also pick up bits of other people's writing methods which can give you new ways of working and help avoid the dreaded "writer's block."

Approaching a publisher

As an unsigned artist or writer, approaching a publisher is the same as approaching any other professional in the business. You can save yourself an awful lot of time and increase your chances of success by doing your homework. Identify the companies that you want to approach and identify the people there that you need to deal with. Then make a direct, focussed approach to that person.

There are several sources of information when it comes to identifying the company to approach. You can have a look through your record collection - all the songs will have the name of the publishing company listed somewhere on the sleeve. Look up some companies that publish music that you like. The Music Week Directory or Showcase International Music Book which will give you the contact details of the people that you need to speak to.

The Music Publisher's Association (MPA) have a web-site, (address at the end of this Guide) which gives information on approaching publishers and lists contact details. They also sell their Member's Directory, which gives more details about companies, such as the genres they work in and whether or not they will take unsolicited demos. You can order it from the MPA site.

The demo

Publishers are slightly different from record companies in that they're principally interested in the quality of the songs. Although there are people at record companies with great ears, songwriting is what pays the bills for publishers so they're more likely to be able to spot a great song through a poor quality performance or recording. You can't send in any old rubbish but you may well find that a publisher will be interested enough to bring you in and record a better quality version to see if their hunch is right. So once you're sure that the company is expecting your demo, send in three or four of your very best songs and be sure and limit yourself to that. If they want more they will ask.

Following up

Give the person you've spoken to a good week or so to listen to the tape and then leave them a phone message or send them an email asking what they thought. They may not say "no" directly - not many people in the music business do. If they haven't said "yes" after 2 phone calls, though, take that as a "no" and move on. No one likes knock-backs but remember this is not someone saying that your songs are no good, just that they themselves can't use them. Your best plan is to try and get as much feedback as you can as to why they didn't think you were suitable and see if they can suggest another publisher who might be interested.

For a different perspective on things, Jane Dyball - Director of Business Affairs at Warner Chappell wrote:

"Pestering people is always to be recommended. It's no use sending a tape in and waiting politely for someone to phone you back and say, "Yes! Here's the cheque!" You've got to really work at it. One of the things I think about the music industry is that people underestimate how hard you have to work to be a pop star, it's no use advising young writers to, 'Do a tape, send it to this person, and if they like it, they'll give you a deal.' Because that's not what happens."

Being a professional songwriter is a difficult job. Even once you're signed, you're going to get constructive criticism because not everyone writes consistent number one singles. Learning to be objective about your work is an important part of developing as a writer and the knock-backs will hurt but they're a part of that learning process.

Useful Links

The British Academy: A membership society providing a range of services to songwriters. Also acts as a pressure group to protect songwriters' interests. British Music House, 26, Berner's Street, London W1T 3LR. www.britishacademy.com info@britishacademy.com T: 020 7636 2929

The Music Publishers Association (MPA): The trade body for Music Publishers. www.mpaonline.org.uk info@mpaonline.org.uk

Further Information

Tad Lathrop (2003) This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion

Tim Whitsett (2001) Music Publishing: The Real Road to Music Business Success

W. Kasdorf (Editor) (2003) The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing

Music Week Directory: Music Week is the trade publication for the UK Music Industry. Each year it publishes a directory listing thousands of useful contacts in every area of the business. It's free to subscribers, so your local library may have a copy. It costs £55 and can be ordered online: www.musicweek.com/subscribe.asp. T: 01858 438816

Showcase International Music Book: This is a phone directory for the music industry, listing thousands of record, publishing and other companies. You may find that your library have a copy. Or buy it for £50 from: www.showcase-music.com/order.htm. orders@showcase-music.com T: 020 8977 7711

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