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Individual copyrighting?
- Thread starter Showdown
- Start date
The copyright belongs to the person(s) who created the work. No, you do not need to incorporate or create any kind of business entity.
As the copyright holder, you can assign various portions of your copyright to others . . . such as assigning the publishing to a publishing company . . . or, assigning the right to administrate performance rights to ASCAP or BMI.
- Maguire
As the copyright holder, you can assign various portions of your copyright to others . . . such as assigning the publishing to a publishing company . . . or, assigning the right to administrate performance rights to ASCAP or BMI.
- Maguire
When you sign a publishing contract, you assign a portion of your song ownership to a publisher, traditionally 50%. Until you sign a publishing or co-publishing deal you and your co-writers own the copyrighted song. In the past ten years all sorts of new and differing publishing deals have come into vogue, probably, the most often used is the co-publishing - where you basically are entitled to the writer's royalties plus 50% of the publishing royalties. There also are copyright administration deals where you retain ownership of your copyrights, but assign a third-party such as a music publisher or songwriter's organization, i.e. SGA (Songwriters Guild of America) to administer your copyrights for you. If you decide to co-publish or establish your own publishing company you may want to consider incorporating or forming a partnership. If and when it gets to the point you're talking any kind of publishing deals, it's time to find a good, reliable, music business attorney. Check out your local Bar associations or, again, contact a songwriter's group for referrals to an attorney in your area
Each kind of deal has its own unique advantages and disadvantages which you need to be aware of. You might start off by contacting a group like SGA for information or check out a book like Randy Poe's "Guide to Music Publishing for Songwriters". I'm sure other board members have contacts and texts that they can recommend also.
Each kind of deal has its own unique advantages and disadvantages which you need to be aware of. You might start off by contacting a group like SGA for information or check out a book like Randy Poe's "Guide to Music Publishing for Songwriters". I'm sure other board members have contacts and texts that they can recommend also.
Showdown -
I "ditto" everything Peter said.
If you want to start a publishing company, that's fine. All the rules/procedures/questions/decisions that go into starting any business would apply. There's nothing special about music publishing. There are many good books on starting businesses.
Co-publishing and administrative deals are usually acquired by performers who also write, or by well established songwriters with a track record of hits. Most songwriters sign over publishing to an established company because it is worth it to pay 1/2 the mechanical and other publishing royalties to a company in return for the resources of that company: active pitching of material, contacts in the business, demo studio access, etc.
Retaining 100% of your publishing copyright to a song that never gets heard is worthless. Paying a publisher a piece of your publishing royalties in return for getting that cut on a record, THAT can be worth lots.
Maguire
I "ditto" everything Peter said.
If you want to start a publishing company, that's fine. All the rules/procedures/questions/decisions that go into starting any business would apply. There's nothing special about music publishing. There are many good books on starting businesses.
Co-publishing and administrative deals are usually acquired by performers who also write, or by well established songwriters with a track record of hits. Most songwriters sign over publishing to an established company because it is worth it to pay 1/2 the mechanical and other publishing royalties to a company in return for the resources of that company: active pitching of material, contacts in the business, demo studio access, etc.
Retaining 100% of your publishing copyright to a song that never gets heard is worthless. Paying a publisher a piece of your publishing royalties in return for getting that cut on a record, THAT can be worth lots.
Maguire