What is a Personal Publishing Entity?

Here are the pros and cons of creating one.

If you affiliated yourself as a writer with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO), you may have noticed the option to affiliate as a publisher as well. A “personal publishing entity” is a name you assign to the publishing “company” you already “own” as a publisher of your works.

While they are not necessary for Songtrust users — we act as your publisher if you don’t already have one — there are a few reasons to create one, and a few key things to consider when you’re deciding whether or not one’s right for you:

Your society may charge a fee for creating and affiliating a publishing entity. For example, BMI charges $150 for an entity owned by an individual, and ASCAP charges $50. (It is worth noting that there is also a $50 charge to affiliate as a writer with ASCAP, and no charge to affiliate as a writer with BMI.)
In the U.S., you cannot collect your publisher’s share at a different society from where you are affiliated as a writer. In other words, if you are affiliated as a writer with BMI, you need to create your publishing entity at BMI as well. This is not the case in other countries. For example, if you are affiliated with PRS as a writer, you can affiliate your personal publishing entity with another society, such as BMI.

If you want to be a publisher on behalf of writers other than yourself, you will need to have your own publishing entity/entities in order to collect the publisher’s share on behalf of those writers. Again, this is not necessary with Songtrust, as we do this on your behalf.

Songtrust does not affiliate publishing companies, so this is something you would need to do outside of your account. If you end up getting one, please register your songwriters with this publishing entity when you add them into your account. Or, if you secure an entity after you’ve already onboarded songs with Songtrust, let us know by using our Support Form to submit a ticket and reach our Client Services Team so we can get it connected properly to your account. You can find this form by logging into your account and finding the link on your client dashboard.

Please note: If you are using Songtrust, setting up your own personal publishing entity will not increase the amount of royalties you will collect. Interested in learning more? Check out our blog post on publishing entities here.

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