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What Is Music Publishing and Do You Need a Publisher?

Music publishing is the business of owning, managing, and monetising compositions — the underlying songs, not the recordings. One song can have many recordings, but only one composition, and publishing follows the song wherever it goes. If you write music, publishing applies to you whether you acknowledge it or not. Many independent artists ignore it for years, then discover they have been leaving a large share of their income uncollected.

Composition vs. recording: the two copyrights

Every song has two copyrights. The composition is the melody, lyrics, and structure — the song itself. The master recording is the specific recorded performance you hear on Spotify. Distribution collects royalties for the master. Publishing collects royalties for the composition. You need both systems working to capture all the money your music generates. A distributor does not collect your publishing royalties, and a publisher does not collect your recording royalties.

What a publisher actually does

A publisher registers your songs with PROs and mechanical agencies, pitches your songs to artists, labels, TV, and film producers, collects royalties on your behalf, licenses your music for different uses, and protects your copyright. In return, publishers typically take 10% to 50% of publishing income depending on the deal. Publishing income itself is split into two equal halves: the writer's share, which always belongs to the songwriter, and the publisher's share, which can be assigned to a publishing company. Self-published artists who never signed a deal technically act as their own publisher — but only collect if they register and administer properly.

Do you need a publisher?

Not necessarily. Independent artists can self-publish by registering directly with a PRO and using a publishing administrator (such as Songtrust or similar services) to handle mechanical collection globally. Self-publishing keeps 100% of your rights and royalties, but the admin work — registrations, metadata, chasing royalties across countries — is yours. A traditional publisher makes sense when your catalog is large, when you want active pitching for cuts and syncs, or when the admin burden genuinely costs you more than the publisher's cut. A publishing admin deal is the middle path: they handle collection for a smaller percentage, without taking ownership of your songs.

The one mistake to avoid

Never sign away your publishing without understanding what you are giving up and for how long. Some deals assign the publisher's share for the full term of copyright. Others are admin-only and revert. Read the term, the territory, and the reversion clauses — or have a lawyer read them — before signing anything.

Distribute your recordings with TIR, and set up your publishing to collect the rest →