printSongwriting
Basic Steps To Publishing - CCS Fact Sheet
When a songwriter creates an original music composition (music only or music with lyrics), the 
writer owns 100% of the song, until such time as he or she decides to assign or convey the song to another party, such as a music publisher. As the creator of the song, you are both the songwriter and the publisher, until you sign a songwriter agreement with a music publisher and give up the role of the publisher to that company. In most cases, that means that you assign 100% of the song to the music publisher with the agreement that you will always receive 50% of all revenue received by the publisher, and they will retain 50%. In this business relationship you are the writer, and the music company is the publisher. If you have co-written a song, be sure that you and the co-writers sign a simple letter of agreement stating what percentage of the song each writer owns, as well as who wrote the lyrics and who wrote the music. Then each writer is responsible for management of their percentage of the song, and each writer decides whether or not he or she wants to assign their song to a publisher.
If you are not a writer, but you are an individual or organization, such as a church, ministry or school that wants to start a publishing company to help promote and publish writers' songs, you would follow the same steps in setting up a publishing company.
This FREE guide from CopyrightSolver will address the following questions:
writer owns 100% of the song, until such time as he or she decides to assign or convey the song to another party, such as a music publisher. As the creator of the song, you are both the songwriter and the publisher, until you sign a songwriter agreement with a music publisher and give up the role of the publisher to that company. In most cases, that means that you assign 100% of the song to the music publisher with the agreement that you will always receive 50% of all revenue received by the publisher, and they will retain 50%. In this business relationship you are the writer, and the music company is the publisher. If you have co-written a song, be sure that you and the co-writers sign a simple letter of agreement stating what percentage of the song each writer owns, as well as who wrote the lyrics and who wrote the music. Then each writer is responsible for management of their percentage of the song, and each writer decides whether or not he or she wants to assign their song to a publisher.
If you are not a writer, but you are an individual or organization, such as a church, ministry or school that wants to start a publishing company to help promote and publish writers' songs, you would follow the same steps in setting up a publishing company.
This FREE guide from CopyrightSolver will address the following questions:
- Do I need to set up my publishing as a business?
- How do I know what song catalog names are available?
- Do I need to affiliate with more than one PRO?
- Are my catalog names different from my business name?
- Non-profit ministry vs. for-profit publishing?
- How do I get my songs set up with CCLI?
- Can I handle all the administration myself for my songs?