Music Publishing: A Guide to Understanding the Management of Songs
Introduction

By JoJo Gould, Music Business Journal (more articles from this author) 2001-10-01

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MUCH has been written about record companies and large entertainment industry firms. The general public, with little direct interest in the music industry as a business, is familiar with corporate household names such as Sony, Warners and Universal. However, music publishing, despite being a much longer established activity, remains something of a dark art - difficult to understand, and an activity certainly not associated with the High Street.

Of course, music publishing is a key income generator within the industry. It is also a core function within the administration and management of music, and is central to the underlying concept of copyright control.

In our era, the majority of performing artists now write their own songs. Historically, though, it was very a different story - popular artists from the 1920's through to the 1950's generally relied on professional songwriters to write their material for them (such as the famous Tin Pan Alley hub of writers in New York). Hence, the expression A&R was invented early on in music industry history - i.e., record company executives would undertake the important task of matching their recording Artistes with songwriters' Repertoire.

This traditional situation changed dramatically, though, when acts such as the Beatles rose to prominence in the early 1960's - not only were they performing artists, but they were also proficient songwriters.

Despite this fact, a role still remains for the non-performing professional songwriter. Performing acts that can write their own material, however, are advantageously placed, as they are in a position to engage in financially rewarding relationships with both record companies and music publishers.

What follows is an explanation of the core concepts and issues that underpin music publishing, and should provide some useful advice for those seeking to establish a new music publishing company.

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