FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & FACTS
HOW ARE PUBLISHING ROYALTIES SPLIT?
For many publishing royalties that are generated from the usage of your music, 50% gets paid to the songwriter/s and 50% gets paid to the publisher/s. If you haven't signed a deal with a publishing company, you are considered both the songwriter AND the publisher.
NOTE: If you do not set up a publishing company, your 'publisher's share' of your royalties will go uncollected.
HOW DO PUBLISHING ROYALTIES GET SPLIT UP AMONG CO-WRITERS?
Splits should be agreed upon by all writers and producers involved. Some collaborators decide it’s best to split everything evenly, others may take it song by song and split up their ownership in a composition according to the “percentage” of the song they wrote.
Splits should be determined immediately upon completion of the record, that way it is still fresh in your mind.
PERFORMANCE ROYALTIES
Once splits are registered, it's important to know how that money will get distributed between the writers and the publishers.
If you are both songwriter and publisher, you are owed both shares (50% for the songwriter/s, and 50% for the publisher/s) of any performance royalties your songs generate from…
live performances
terrestrial radio play
internet radio play
MECHANICAL ROYALTIES
Again, if you are both the songwriter AND publisher, you’d be owed 100% of any licensing income your songs generate, and you’d be owed 100% of mechanical royalties generated from…
global streaming activity.
digital downloads.
the manufacturing of your songs on physical media such as CDs, vinyl, and cassette.
You’ll need a publishing administrator to collect mechanical royalties from downloads overseas.
It’s up to you to exploit the copyright to your compositions, and it’s up to you to collect the royalty payments. Unless, of course, you work with an established music publisher who can (either for a fixed period of time or in perpetuity) help you find opportunities to earn money from your songs.
What does the publisher get out of the bargain?
As mentioned above, a typical royalty split between the songwriter and the publisher is 50/50 — but 50% could be a small price to pay if they’re using their publishing expertise to generate big income from the exploitation of your copyright.