The Basic Roles of a Music Publisher & the Challenges They Face in the Industry's Current State
THE KEY ROLES OF A MUSIC PUBLISHER &
THE IMPORTANT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN MUSIC PUBLISHING.
A brief introduction into the world of the music publisher will help the understanding of the benefits and pitfalls that occur with the ongoing decline in the record industry, and how music publishing utilizes the advantages it possesses to insulate itself against the changing marketplace due to it’s diverse streams of revenue.
The role of the music publisher has evolved over the years, for many music companies, it has become nothing more than a banking operation, and for some, this is at the cost of innovation and passion. But what is the role of a music publisher today? We shall discover…
What is the music publisher’s role?
In Ann Harrison’s Music: The Business, she explains that a music publisher’s role can be split into three simple steps: 1. To issue licenses to people who want to use music. 2. To actively look for ways to use music (i.e. putting it in an advert/film soundtrack). 3. To collect the income from those licenses and uses.
Before elaborating on these three steps, we must first acquaint ourselves with the basic terminology that comes with dealing with a music publisher:
The first thing everyone in the circle must understand is the meaning of copyright: * COPYRIGHT is a protection that covers published and unpublished works. It exists at the point of creation, arising automatically. The copyright work, however, must exist in material form, for example, that of a recording or sheet music. * Helen Gammons, The Art of Music Publishing.
Copyright subsists throughout original music, artistic, literary and dramatic works; it also subsists in sound recordings, cable programs, broadcasts, film and typographical arrangements of published editions. A copyright in a musical or literary work lasts for 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author/writer dies. If it is a co-written work, then the copyright is in effect
THE IMPORTANT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN MUSIC PUBLISHING.
A brief introduction into the world of the music publisher will help the understanding of the benefits and pitfalls that occur with the ongoing decline in the record industry, and how music publishing utilizes the advantages it possesses to insulate itself against the changing marketplace due to it’s diverse streams of revenue.
The role of the music publisher has evolved over the years, for many music companies, it has become nothing more than a banking operation, and for some, this is at the cost of innovation and passion. But what is the role of a music publisher today? We shall discover…
What is the music publisher’s role?
In Ann Harrison’s Music: The Business, she explains that a music publisher’s role can be split into three simple steps: 1. To issue licenses to people who want to use music. 2. To actively look for ways to use music (i.e. putting it in an advert/film soundtrack). 3. To collect the income from those licenses and uses.
Before elaborating on these three steps, we must first acquaint ourselves with the basic terminology that comes with dealing with a music publisher:
The first thing everyone in the circle must understand is the meaning of copyright: * COPYRIGHT is a protection that covers published and unpublished works. It exists at the point of creation, arising automatically. The copyright work, however, must exist in material form, for example, that of a recording or sheet music. * Helen Gammons, The Art of Music Publishing.
Copyright subsists throughout original music, artistic, literary and dramatic works; it also subsists in sound recordings, cable programs, broadcasts, film and typographical arrangements of published editions. A copyright in a musical or literary work lasts for 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author/writer dies. If it is a co-written work, then the copyright is in effect