This entry is about songwriters and how they can get their due payment for their work. If you’re an emerging musician obtaining an income is probably one of the top of your concerns. In order to ease you, here are the basics on how to get an economic retribution. From the start, know that, as a songwriter, you can license your musical works—both music and lyrics—by yourself. Regardless, it is more common that you assign the rights of your works to publishers and, then, license the performance rights to performing rights organizations. In addition to registering your work in the Copyright Office, which should be your very first step, here is the rundown of three actions you can take to get paid.
Contact a Publisher or Publishing Administrator
The main job of a music publisher is to license a songwriter’s works, register them with performance and mechanical rights organizations, monitor the use of their productions, and collect and distribute the royalties. Some of the licenses these agents can obtain are using musical works in sheet music and in recorded music, as well as in commercials, TV, films, video games, and specific locations (such as bars and restaurants). A conventional arrangement between you and a publisher usually implies that you, as a songwriter, assign the copyright interest in a song to them. In turn, this figure distributes a portion of royalties to you while they retain a portion. (Technically speaking, these are the “songwriter’s share” and the “publisher’s share.”)
Even though this is not always the case, other areas in which music publishers or administrators can help are securing commercial recordings with recording artists, offering career advice, and enforcing your rights if someone infringes on them. Of course, this type of transaction implies a contract, in which you specify the agreements that suit both of your needs. The most common agreements are co-publishing, sub-publishing, and an administration one—although you can always self-administer, i. e. do these tasks on your own.
Getting Paid as Songwriters: Affiliate to a PRO
A PRO (performance right organization) is a society that provides intermediary functions—mainly the collection of royalties—between you, as a songwriter, and parties who wish to employ your copyrighted works publicly in locations. In other words, these organizations help both you and your publisher by licensing musical works’ public performance rights (hence the name) on a non-exclusive basis—that is, you, as the owner, retain the right to engage in direct licensing with other users. What they usually do is to bundle these rights from diverse songwriters and license them together to radio stations, TV, streaming services, bars, restaurants, arenas, and to every user who may want to perform your musical works in a public fashion.
To get paid from a PRO, you should first sign an agreement that allows it to license your musical works, as well as to collect and distribute the performance royalties. These organizations typically pay songwriters directly.
MLC: Songwriters Must Register in the Database
Given the Music Modernization Act is already in place, and that it states that the Mechanical Licensing Collective is in charge of collecting and distributing the mechanical royalty payments, you should register on their database. This is something that you must do compulsorily. Even though you have no option, rest assured that, in the long run, it will benefit you.
Getting Paid as Songwriters: Conclusion
In this entry we have provided a rundown of how to obtain due payment as songwriters. This information is crucial whenever you are an emerging artist starting your music marketing journey. In summary, these are the basic steps you should follow to ensure you receive the economic reward you deserve for your creations.
