Publish and Sell Your Music: A Guide to Digital Publishing(Letto 122 volte)
Guide to digital publishing
The economic benefits of publishing
Whether you are a songwriter, composer, producer, lyricist or band member, if you contribute to creating new and original songs, you could (and should) be paid every time that song or part of it is:
- Streamed
- Purchased digitally or on physical media
- Reproduced on radio or television, either as the main feature or as background music
- Performed in public
- Heard as the soundtrack to a YouTube video
- Used as sound sampling
- Produced and sold as sheet music or musical scores, both digital and printed
- Used as the soundtrack for a film, television programme, advertisement, video game, or corporate video
- Used in a presentation
Publishing, in short
Those who create original texts are technically defined as Authors (or, more specifically, Authors of texts).
Those who compose original music are technically defined as Composers (but are sometimes simply referred to as Music Authors).
As a composer and/or lyricist, you now have various opportunities to earn money from your compositions.
To this end, music publishing plays an important role, but it is also one of the least understood aspects of the music industry.
Easy access does not equate to understanding; and just because independent authors/producers can earn money from publishing nowadays, it does not mean they know how to do so.
Below, I will briefly outline the basics for understanding the various roles of authors and editors, helping to clarify some aspects that many artists find unclear.
Copyright
This concerns:
of the intellectual property rights to their compositions (which cannot be transferred by law or logic)
of the economic right deriving from the use of compositions by anyone, who will be legally obliged to pay the author the so-called copyright, which is essentially the fee for obtaining the licence to use the composition, which is the fruit of the author's ingenuity, for a specific purpose (public performance, recording, advertising and other uses).
This means that the author of a particular composition (music-lyrics) may decide to “put it into play” in such a way that it generates money for the above uses.
The publishing right
Music publishing was created to regulate the rights arising from the printing of sheet music, a practice that is still widespread but has now been greatly reduced.
The music publisher was the person who, as with printed books, acquired, in agreement with the author, the responsibility for printing the sheet music and the rights to exploit it commercially, to be shared in percentages with the author.
To this end, the author therefore transferred part of his copyright, in the form of publishing rights, becoming, together with the publisher, the holder of the intellectual property rights to the work.
This right could and still can be transferred by the author by means of an agreement, which nowadays is generally an integral part of a “record production” contract.
However, this contractual agreement may also constitute the consideration granted by the author to an external party (the Publisher, in fact) for the promotion and dissemination of his work.
In common parlance, and also hereinafter, we will refer to music publishing as the set of all actions and rights relating to the composition of songs and the production of a recording of the same.
Authors' and publishers' societies
The rights of authors and publishers can be protected, and generally are protected, when commissioned to do so, by authors' and publishers' societies in various countries, which often have agreements with each other to manage the rights of their members internationally.
At one time, only SIAE operated in Italy, the sole company with exclusive rights to provide such services for the protection and administration of authors' and publishers' rights.
Now, however, the context has been liberalised and other alternative companies have emerged, among which I would mention Soundreef, which I recommend to everyone, but especially to emerging and minor authors.
Music copyright
Subject to agreement between the author and any publisher with a third party known as the producer, it is possible to record a specific performance of a piece on a physical or digital medium known technically as an audio master.
Nowadays, the producer is increasingly often the same person as the author (or publisher), but it can also be a third party, such as a record label.
The manufacturer has the exclusive right by law to:
“physical” property of the audio master
make copies of the master itself (hence the term copyright)
distribute and market the aforementioned copies directly
transfer all or part of this right to third parties, for an agreed consideration
granting external parties licence to market and distribute copies, with any time and/or territorial restrictions, again for an agreed fee
This set of rights is called copyright, and infringement of it is both a civil and criminal offence.
The division of proceeds
If you are an author who has created an audio master and have not signed an agreement with a publisher or external producer, you yourself hold all the author's rights, publishing rights and copyright.
You are therefore considered both the author and publisher, and only you have the right to publish and exploit your works.
In the event of earnings, they will go 100% to you, net of any fees due (expenses and/or profits) to the companies you have appointed from time to time to exploit the work on your behalf, such as Soundreef, YouTube, and Spotify.
How to engage a publisher
If you deem it convenient to engage an established publisher in order to reap the above benefits (greater dissemination and sales), you may do so by entering into a contract.
If you entrust the administration of the composition to a society of authors and publishers, instead of a contract, it will suffice to provide the publisher's details when registering the pieces to be administered, also indicating the percentage distribution between the author(s) and the publisher.
This percentage is conventionally set at equal parts: 50% for each party.
Royalties for performers
In the period when music was sold on vinyl or compact discs, the producer often acquired all rights and sales obligations, granting the artists a fixed fee, in addition to royalties on sales expressed as a percentage of sales.
To better understand this, below is an example of how sales revenue might have been distributed for an average artist during the years when music was released on physical media.
For this example, let us assume gross pre-tax revenue of €1,000,000 from record sales:
€400,000 (40%) divided among the various retailers, i.e. the shops that actually made the sale to the public (from this income, they will deduct their shop's operating costs)
200,000 euros (20%) for the distributor(s), i.e. the companies responsible for physically delivering the products to retailers through a network of sales agents (from this amount, they will deduct the costs of running the sales office, sales agents' commissions and disc delivery costs)
200,000 euros (20%) for the producer (from this amount, the producer will deduct expenses for recording, promotion, pressing discs, and managing relations with distributors, and will also pay the artist a performance fee (e.g., 40,000 euros) in proportion to the artist's fame and reputation).
€80,000 (8%) for copyright and publishing rights and related administrative rights, for the most part (75-85% then distributed to authors and publishers by the companies that administer these rights by mandate)
€120.00 (12%) for the performing artist named on the record, as royalties on sales
In cases where the artist was new to the industry, the fixed engagement fee could be reduced significantly, or even eliminated altogether; in such cases, the artist's royalty percentage could often be reduced to a minimum of 4%.
Distribution in the streaming era
In the current era, products have become virtual, so the retailers and distributors referred to in points a and b have virtually disappeared.
In their place, sales and streaming platforms have emerged, which characterise our era. These platforms collect fees on sales and rights, varying around 30%, and pay the other figures in the chain (c, d and e) the remaining 70% (which remains entirely with the artist if he or she is the author, performer and producer of the master).
However, some of these platforms (e.g. Apple and Spotify) do not accept direct relationships with artists and small producers.
To publish on these platforms, it is essential to go through the new figure of the authorised digital distributor (e.g. CdBaby or Amuse), which also offers artists the convenient service of global publication of their music on all platforms worldwide, retaining a small percentage for itself, which erodes the residual right by a further 5-10 percentage points.
Only a few well-established record companies with high turnover can have direct relationships with these platforms for the publication of songs.
Therefore:
If the artist is also the author, producer and publisher, they will receive the entire residual amount which, net of taxes, will be approximately 55-65% of the gross amounts paid by users and advertising.
If there is an external producer, the artist must share these revenues with them, according to proportions established by existing contracts, which depend both on the artist's reputation and on any expenses paid by the producer to produce and promote the music.
The publisher, if any (nowadays, publishers are almost exclusively the producers themselves, if they exist), will share with the author the rights administered by the relevant authors' and publishers' society.
As is evident, with the obsolescence of physical media, the landscape has completely changed and it has become possible for artists to manage themselves on their climb to success.
However, this does not mean that it is easier to achieve success, as the simplicity of production processes (from home studios to virtual support) has encouraged the production of countless amounts of music, contributing to user confusion and inflating the music market.
Even now, therefore, as then (albeit in a different way), large investments in production and promotion make a difference and are generally desirable for artists, as they can significantly multiply their success and the income derived from it.
The trick is to create consensus and trends, which is easier for those who have considerable resources, including financial ones, and are willing to put them on the line.
Obviously, the quality of the composition, arrangement and interpretation are always fundamental to success, but not always, as we can see.
But this quality becomes essential if you want to try your hand at self-production, because it is the only way you can hope to succeed, with few resources managed masterfully, in getting noticed and appreciated, and winning over your own fan club.
NOTE
Nowadays, large production companies no longer employ traditional talent scouts who sought out rough diamonds to mould.
Major record labels, on the other hand, seek out interesting artists who, through their own efforts, have already acquired a large fan base.
In this regard, in order to generate genuine interest from large-scale producers, you need to start with at least 50,000 fans registered on social media or, better still, on your mailing list.
However, this is the minimum required to hope to be contacted or to propose yourself, but it is good to know that with even higher numbers, your commercial strength will increase exponentially, allowing you to obtain better contractual conditions.
With a solid following of 1,000,000 fans, for example, you, not the major label, will be leading the negotiations, allowing you to take the lion's share.
But let us return to our main topic concerning the rights and distribution criteria arising from the economic exploitation of works and masters.
What happens in the event of a live public performance?
If you are registered with a society of authors and publishers, live performances in concerts and festivals will generate income for authors and publishers, as these societies will collect the relevant royalties on your behalf from the event organisers or by demanding a share of the proceeds from ticket sales or concert participation fees (for paid events).
Registering and depositing your songs with one of these societies is therefore essential for monetising the proceeds in the event of public performance of your songs.
NOTE
Please note, however, that unlike other alternative companies, SIAE heavily penalises small authors in the case of income derived from small concerts (piano bars, weddings and light entertainment in general).
And in the case of television and radio broadcasting?
In this case too, the authors' societies will collect the royalties and distribute them to authors and publishers.
NOTE
However, some authors' societies will only charge small broadcasters a flat fee, penalising small authors, as in the case of the aforementioned small concerts.
Advice for those who are not yet established
As an author and publisher
If you are an Italian author who is not yet established, register with an authors' society, but not with SIAE (a good alternative is Soundreef), and deposit all your musical productions with them.
This will ensure you receive the maximum possible remuneration when your songs are used in live performances and radio and television broadcasts.
Here are the links to Soundreef and SIAE:
www.soundreef.com
www.siae.it
As producer and copyright holder
Register with a digital distributor platform that will take care of managing the sales and streaming rights for your tracks and publish your tracks on the web through them.
Two good managers are, for example, CdBaby (which excels in services) and Amuse (which is completely free), but there are many others, including Italian ones, and in this regard, I recommend that you read in full what services they offer and at what cost before deciding.
NOTE
It is advisable to choose carefully so that you can continue to deal with the same manager over time, allowing you to manage your works, read reports and more, using a single account to access the administration platform.
Generally, you will need to pay the following to this digital distributor:
a one-off fee (i.e. a single payment) for each album or single you release (specifically, from free to around £35)
After that, you will only need to collect the proceeds accrued over time, net of a small variable percentage of fees retained as compensation, ranging from free to 15%.
Amuse is a completely free service that does not charge any one-off fees for uploading tracks or take a percentage of the proceeds.
In fact, as they expressly state, it seems that they are only interested in discovering new talent to produce, and to this end they appear to offer a free service of good quality, although not very rich in auxiliary services at the moment.
The service platform you choose will publish your music on all sales and streaming platforms, collect the proceeds and distribute them to you periodically.
You can check the reports at any time via the platform, to which you will have restricted access by logging in as usual.
Here are the links for CD Baby and Amuse:
EN
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