Once upon a time, a publishing contract was a prelude to a recording contract. The advance was high enough that you could focus just on your music without any other distractions, and if a publisher was interested enough to take a chance, then a record label would be too.
Times have changed though. Advances are pretty small these days, but publishing is still one of the most lucrative parts of the music business. That's why it pays to ask a lot of questions before signing any publishing agreement that's been put in front of you.
The
Liveunsigned.com blog recently posted a great article about this, and here's an excerpt oregarding the things you should be concerned with before you add your John Hancock to the agreement.
1. Is there an advance? Some publishers offer a good advance,
but make sure that you are not signing with a company purely for this
reason, you need to think about whether the deal is good for you in the
long term.
2. Is it an exclusive agreement? Many companies who arrange publishing deals for sync licenses are non-exclusive (for example Sentric or Music Dealers), but most conventional publishing deals are exclusive for a specific amount of time.
3. What is the split? This is the amount that goes to you and the
amount that goes to the publisher. For example this can be 50/50 or
70/30 in your favour. You should get at least 50% but ideally more.
4. Is your publisher the same company as your record company? This can
be seen as a conflict of interests, giving the publisher/record label
too much control. Even worse than this are the current 360 deals where
bands allow record companies to control merchandise, live revenue,
publishing and other revenue streams. Bands are often pressured to sign
these for an advance but they can do serious damage to your career in
the long term.
5. How many territories does the publishing deal cover? Is it just for
your country or for the whole world?
6. Is there a minimum delivery commitment? This is the amount of songs
you have to deliver during the time of the contract, usually around 10 songs a
year. However if you only write 50% of a song (because you're co-writing with
others), you might have to write 20 songs to deliver the same
amount of material to your publisher.
7. What is the term of the contract? The term is the length of time the
contract covers, it could be months or it could be for decades.
8. Have they a proven record of getting sync deals? Ask to see what
sync deals (for TV, Games, Adverts etc) that they have recently done for
their clients. This is an area where there is a serious revenue and you
need to see a proven record for success in this area before signing
anything.
9. Are you a priority for the publisher? If the publisher has many
similar writers to you is your music really going to get the push it
deserves?
10. Is it a full publishing agreement? With this agreement the income is
collected by the company then split between publisher and writer. The
publisher owns the copyright on the song in this case.
11. Is it a co-publishing agreement? Here the writer receives their
percentage as before but the writer also receives a percentage of the
publisher’s share. This allows songwriters to receive an amount of the
publisher’s share (as they are part publisher and writer), co-own the
song and receive an overall greater percentage.
12. Is it an administration agreement? Here the writer does not give up
any copyright up on the song, the publisher acts simply as an
administrator collecting revenues for a percentage of the amount. These
deals are less likely to be offered to artists who are unknown as there
is less income for the publisher.
13. Can you speak to some of their current clients? If possible ask to
speak to some writers who are already working with the company and see
what they think. Try and find out if the company pays royalties on time and how they treat their writers.
Remember to always seek legal council before you sign any agreement, but it's especially important to find someone well versed in publishing. This is a time when your personal attorney or the family real estate attorney just won't do.
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