What is Music Publishing?

It all comes down to royalties and copyrights.

Music publishing refers to the legal rights granted to songwriters and other composition rightsholders, and the related government-mandated royalties. These royalties must be paid whenever other artists or companies use music that you wrote and own at least part of the copyright for.

Basic copyright law protects songwriters by giving them exclusive rights to grant or deny the reproduction, distribution, or performance of their original songs. When you write original music and register the songs correctly and comprehensively with the help of a publishing administrator like Songtrust, you may be able to start collecting from several pay sources. These include performance and mechanical royalty earnings from digital streaming, user-generated videos, live concerts, and more.

Interested in learning more? Revisit our Music Publishing 101 webinar here or check out the Modern Guide to Music Publishing on our blog.

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