What is music publishing?

Question

I am about to start recording music on an indie label. I was told I had to get publishing first. What exactly is a publisher and what is a publisher's job?

Answer 1

i have no idea really.. do you mean manager?

Answer 2

A publisher handles the licensing of your music for things such as T.V. spots, Movie soundtracks, etc. Most publishers will ask for 50%+ of publishing royalties. This is different from the album and music sales.

Based on your question I am assuming the label will handle sales and distribution of your album but they don't want to handle requests by commercial entities to license your music.

The way things are moving on the Internet I could understand this. Any online video shorts that start earning $$$ should pay a licensing fee for use of your music. Several of these start out as free then move into monetization thus asking about licensing from the publisher.

Some publishers will also do promotions but not all of them.  What I would suggest is look into getting a business license to run your own publishing with all band members as partners of the publishing company. Then as too many requests come in for you to handle you can start hiring your true hard core fans to handle the job as employees.

Of course if you don't feel comfortable with that idea then at the least make sure you have a lawyer look over any publishing contract before signing it.