Thoughts on music publishing

I don't think I qualify as a "young" composer anymore, but I wanted to share some thoughts about a topic that some of you might be starting to think about: publishing. I'm self-published, and I've found that this is the best way for me to make a living. It's not for everybody, but if you're starting to wonder if publishing is the right choice for you, I hope you'll check out my recent blog entry about it:

Music Publishing at John Mackey

Oh my goodness! It's John Mackey!

I'll be sure to read it. :] Great work, by the way; I especially liked Redline Tango.

I know your music! Thanks for joining!!! It's about time we got someone who KNOWS something, other than guessing. At least in the Business side.

Stick around, we've got lots of fun stuff going on here. OH, and thanks for the article.

I think I have met you before, you came to Stephen F. Austin State University and spoke with the composition studio last year.

Well any ways,

this is a very interesting topic, especially now that more and more publishing companies are going under financially and more composers are distributing their own music. This is a topic I have great interest and I will have to fully read your blog post about it and give a proper response later.

I'm reading it and very impressed. Thanks!

An interesting topic and blog. Perhaps this is just the way ASCAP works, but why would 50% disappear into the ether if the work is unpublished? I'd have imagined that in this case the composer is considered 100% copyright owner and receives the entire royalty directly, at least this is my understanding of how it works with SACEM in France, where I am. No doubt there are differences from country to country - under SACEM rules the publisher percentage is only 33%, although all of the royalty would go first to the publisher who would then in turn pay the composer.

SACEM does the same basic things as ASCAP and BMI, but in a totally different way. I feel like I remember reading that SACEM is a bit more generous to their artists, but don't quote me on that.

An interesting topic and blog. Perhaps this is just the way ASCAP works, but why would 50% disappear into the ether if the work is unpublished? I'd have imagined that in this case the composer is considered 100% copyright owner and receives the entire royalty directly, at least this is my understanding of how it works with SACEM in France, where I am.

It's been years since I joined ASCAP, but at the time, my understanding was that 50% went to the publisher, and if there was no publisher, that 50% didn't go anywhere. I could have been wrong about that and simply misunderstood how it worked, since I was pretty young, and none of my peers ever gave any thought to the business element of composing so I couldn't ask them for advice.

As for a publisher only retaining 33%, that's definitely not the norm in the US. I have never heard of any arrangement with any publisher that allowed the composer to see 66% of anything. That's a great deal.

Aside from where the royalties go, self-publishing allows the composer to set the price of the performing materials. In France the minimum that anyone can pay as the tarif for performing protected music (live) is about

Aside from where the royalties go, self-publishing allows the composer to set the price of the performing materials. In France the minimum that anyone can pay as the tarif for performing protected music (live) is about

WHY don't we have this in the US? lol.

Different market system ;).

I feel for the vast majority of composers, avoiding ASCAP and the like is fine... But I'm more of a DIY or Die kind of creep.

I feel for the vast majority of composers, avoiding ASCAP and the like is fine... But I'm more of a DIY or Die kind of creep.

Surely you aren't talking about composers in America. Without ASCAP (or BMI), you won't receive any performance, radio, or TV royalties. There is no "DIY" in the US to make that happen. You either join BMI or ASCAP, or nobody will collect performance license fees for you.

I can charge a rental fee to an ensemble, but there's no way I can collect performance programs from every American orchestra, concert hall, and college, and any fees associated with a given performance. (If I sell a set of music, there's no way I can even know about the performances, let alone collect performance license fees.) I can't monitor every radio station to see if I happen to have a piece on the radio, and if I did, it's not like I could send the station a bill for broadcast royalties.

For concert composers with a large number of performances, these broadcast and performance royalties are potentially many tens of thousands of dollars per year that you'd have no chance of collecting on your own. And that's not even considering the special awards ASCAP (and presumably BMI) offers to subsidize composers who don't necessarily make that much in licensed performance income.

If you are an American composer and you have any performances in any licensed medium or venue, I can think of no reason why ASCAP or BMI isn't a good idea. We can debate about which one is better, but to join neither would be crazy.

I'm 15 right now, but I'd like to get my music published...maybe you could explain a bit about what it takes to be a self-publisher? :]

but to join neither would be crazy.

I don't get why...

I don't get why...

I don't get why you wouldn't join... (Keep in mind that everything I'm saying applies only to the US.) You simply can't collect performance royalties and broadcast music royalties without joining ASCAP or BMI. It's not like Harry Fox, where you can join and have them collect your mechanical license fees, or you can do it yourself (which is what I do), since the law requires that a piece be licensed to be recorded.

To play devil's advocate, I'll point out that ASCAP and BMI don't license churches, so if you have choral music that's only performed in churches, the performance licensing doesn't apply. But let's say Chanticleer records your choral piece. Their record label will obtain a mechanical license from you, regardless of whether or not you belong to Harry Fox, so at least that license will be covered. If that recording is then broadcast on the local classical radio station, unless you belong to ASCAP or BMI, you won't get a broadcast royalty. Radio stations pay those license fees to ASCAP and BMI, not to individuals.

What if Chanticleer performs on a Christmas special on NBC, and they perform your piece? Again, if you don't belong to ASCAP or BMI, you won't get the broadcast license fee, because again, the broadcast networks and cable don't pay these fees to individuals. Fees are paid to ASCAP/BMI, cue sheets are provided by the network, and ASCAP/BMI distributes the royalties.

There are venues not licensed by ASCAP/BMI (churches, high schools, middle schools, athletic events, military bands, and on and on), and I guess you can argue that if 100% of your music will only ever see those venues, you don't "need" a performance rights organization. But don't forget about things like the ASCAP "PLUS" awards, which are annual grants given to composers whose music is performed primarily in these unlicensed or underlicensed venues. I know one choral composer in the US who doesn't get much regular ASCAP money, but he does get a $5000 grant from them every year in recognition of what he's doing outside of normally licensed venues.

My music is so far down on the list that I'm never dealing with anything but my own gigs... Even for CD "sales," I'd rather just eat the 50

Basically, I'm saying that my understanding is you need over a certain threshold of demand for your music before you start playing with ASCAP, and the vast majority of members here haven't hit that point yet... Maybe I'm just really confused...

You're totally right. If you don't think you'll ever have a performance that would be licensed or broadcast, there's no real need to join either organization. There's no harm in joining, though. When I first joined, there was an annual membership fee, but they don't even have that anymore, so it's totally free. It takes very little paperwork to join, and costs nothing, so you could really just join and forget about it until you happen to get a check. There's really nothing to lose, other than the time it takes to fill out that initial paperwork.

I also think it's good to submit music for the ASCAP and BMI Young Composer Awards. They're really hard to win (I never won a BMI award, and didn't win an ASCAP award until my final year of eligibility), but it's good to get into the habit of applying for competitions like that. When you're young, those competitions are just about the only way to get any recognition. I think they even have a special tier of awards for composers under 18. Can't win in you don't enter! Oh, and you don't have to be a member to enter their Young Composer competitions.

I'm 15 right now, but I'd like to get my music published...maybe you could explain a bit about what it takes to be a self-publisher? :]

Putting a pdf score of your music on a website that you create can certainly be considered a form of self-publishing; you are making it available publicly.

Mr Mackey has given good reasons for joining ASCAP/BMI. If your music is played elsewhere in the world royalties are collected by the performing rights organization in the country where it's are played, and if you are a member of ASCAP/BMI the royalties will be passed to them by the other organization, usually 10% is deducted where an international transfer is involved between PR organizations. So if you are putting performable scores on the internet, it's possible that they could be played anywhere in the world and royalties paid, that should eventually end up in your hands as long as you are a member of a performing rights organization.

Just because churches are not licensed by ASCAP/BMI in the USA, doesn't necessarily mean that your music being played in a church in another country (eg. France) won't potentially generate royalties, as I already pointed out. On the other side of the coin, there'll be countries where the royalty collection is not as good as USA or France.

Artists House Music: A learning resource for music and the music business.

I'm just going to throw that website out there. It has a lot of info on it, from publishing/royalties to networking to a bunch of other stuff.

Basically, I'm saying that [my understanding is] you need over a certain threshold of demand for your music before you start playing with ASCAP, and the vast majority of members here haven't hit that point yet... Maybe I'm just really confused...

I have. :D

Great read! Thank you. As a side note, we are playing "Strange Humors" this semester in the San Diego State University wind symphony. Great piece, fun to play... now if those darn woodwinds wouldn't drag...

I'm a bit confused about self-publishing. After you join a performing rights organization as a writer you then sign up as a publisher and get the publishing name cleared... But what about the legal business aspects of this? Do you have to set up set up a business in whatever state you are residing in? How does that work, and what if you plan to be moving around a lot in the coming years? What about protecting your new company (like with the Inc. at the end of John Mackey's Ostimusic)? It seems like publishing gets complicated and messy (tax-wise) quick.

I'm a bit confused about self-publishing. After you join a performing rights organization as a writer you then sign up as a publisher and get the publishing name cleared... But what about the legal business aspects of this? Do you have to set up set up a business in whatever state you are residing in? How does that work, and what if you plan to be moving around a lot in the coming years? What about protecting your new company (like with the Inc. at the end of John Mackey's Ostimusic)? It seems like publishing gets complicated and messy (tax-wise) quick.

It certainly can. It is, after all, a business. You still gotta file tax returns as if your a business and protect your name (if necessary). If one is up to all the administrative work of it, then it's a good idea.

Self publishing is very easy.

Scribd for scores, mediafire for files, officelive or a blog for presentation.

Oh, you want to make money? Make sure you're worth it first.

Let's say you register as a publisher with ASCAP and you register a composition title under the account. Can you immediately register that composition as a published piece under your new publishing name at copyright.gov, or do you have to establish the publishing entity as an official business with your state government first?

Can you establish the publishing entity as a LLC or a corporation after it's registered with ASCAP (since you will have to append a suffix to the entity's name), or do you have to do it before? I know this stuff's a bit tricky but any help is greatly appreciated.