In reality, there is still lot of situations and complex scenarios that could confuse songwriters even more. As a result, it’s hard to make a distinction between the two.

So you will ask: “How to really publish a song?”

Definition of “published” and “unpublished” song

To know how to publish a song is to start defining technically these terms. The best definition that would be easiest to understand is below:

“Published song is a song that has been released or distributed for public use and access whether it is commercial or non-commercial in nature”.

Of course the opposite is the definition of unpublished song. An example:

Supposing you just written a song today; then you want to publish it. You might ask: “Does copyrighting itself an act of publishing the work?”

The answer is no. It is because copyright is simply putting your song ideas in tangible forms such as on a paper and recorded on a cassette tapes. This is an evidence of ownership and creation. You are not publishing anything to the public.

The act of submitting your work to copyright office is just a registration of your copyrighted work (which will be used as evidence of copyright ownership that is recognized by the state copyright laws). Registration is not the same as publishing your song. It is because it is not yet released and distributed for public use.

So in this case, your song is still “unpublished”. It is why if you register your work to the copyright office, one of the fields in the copyright form would ask you if the work is published or unpublished. Now you should know the basic difference.

So how to really publish the song??

You will notice that there are many ways of publishing a song:

1.) Upload your song in the Internet (any websites). The file should be publicly accessible (whether as a download or for streaming). Good examples of these are artist and music websites such as Sound Cloud, YouTube, ReverbNation, MySpace, Facebook, etc.

Since they are now available to the public, the song is now published. This is true even you have not yet make a living out of it. If you simply upload the song privately and have not yet shared it with anyone or not accessible by public users; the song is still unpublished by definition.

2.) Burn the song into a CD or any mechanical media (tape, DVD, etc.) and share it with to the public. This is true if you went to off-line media promotions such as providing giveaways to the fans or selling the CD.

However if you simply share the CD with your private friends (not the public), the song is still unpublished in nature.

3.) If your song has been played on the radio with public listeners, then the song is now published. This is regardless whether you made a royalty or not from public performance.

4.) If the song has been included in a video or film which will be shown to the public, the song is considered published because it has already been synchronized.

5.) If you allow any bands or artist to cover your song and have it recorded on a studio that is under a recording contract/agreement with a label, the song is considered published.

6.) If the song has been licensed to anyone for use (regardless of application), the song is not anymore considered unpublished.

7.) As a songwriter, if you have entered into an agreement with a music publisher and have the song included in their catalog. The song is considered published.

Why “publishing” a song is sometimes a risky act?

Songwriters are proud to publish their song but sometimes this is a very risky act. Why? Consider the situations below:

1.) If you have written a really great song and you published it, you decrease its opportunity for future exposure. A good example is when a label requires songs from writers to be unpublished. Or a prestigious songwriting contest requiring songs to be purely unpublished. In this case, your great song may not be able to grab this opportunity.

2.) When you write and record songs and have it marketed and published, big recording labels or major music publishers are sometimes hesitant to touch published songs especially if they are not successfully marketed. They sometimes correlate it (although not true in all cases) as a “bad or low quality product”.

Best practices for songwriters when to publish a work

To increase the marketing potential and success of your every song, consider the following advice:

1.) Don’t hurry up self-publishing your songs in useless and non-profitable ventures. As a songwriter, you should spend a lot of time improving your song than thinking for ways in publishing it. Remember that time will come your great song will be presented with a proper opportunity.

2.) Its not your job to market your song. It’s the job of your customers which could be the labels or the music publishers. Bear in mind that when you start marketing your work, you will be publishing your songs. Save the publishing for last. For more details, read this post on to understand how the music industry works.

2.) Keep copies of your original work; these are evidence of copyright. And do not forget to register them to the copyright office and beware of these common copyright mistakes.

3.) If you self-published your work, make sure you do it right and you make a living out of it. Reckless publishing can only reduce the value of your catalog and minimize the opportunity for your great songs. Learn how to succeed in your independent music publishing business. It requires proper timing and careful planning.

4.) If you are not confident with your marketing and self-publishing skills, don’t publish your work. Instead wait for the proper opportunity to be presented to you and partner with an established music publisher that would be publishing and marketing your songs. This is where you can start to make a living as a songwriter.

Nick
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My reply:

You need a producer –artist agreement or contract

The most important requirement for any record producer before starting to work with any recording artist is to complete and settle the producer-artist agreement or contract.

In this agreement, it contains all the important terms that are being agreed between you and the recording artist. This includes royalties, delivery of final product (the master recording), advance payment, royalty distribution, etc.

I recommend hiring a lawyer to get this done. But before hiring a lawyer, you need to discuss thoroughly with your artist and agree on the most important aspects that are to be included in the producer-artist agreement. What to agree would be discussed on each section below.

Agreement on the ownership of the song and sound recording

You mentioned that the artist is the one writing the lyrics and you are the one producing/writing the music. In copyright laws, the copyright of the song and sound recording are two different entities. Both of you owns the copyright of the song; while you also own the copyright of the sound recording because you are the one creating the masters, not the artist.

Therefore both you can earn royalties from the ownership of the song. These royalties came from the use of different music rights when the originally written song is licensed in film, videos, radio and other applications.

The standard split of copyright song ownership is 50/50. This assumes that the artist agrees that this percentage share is fair. Otherwise both of you needs to agree with the exact percentage based on songwriting contributions.

You can then break it down; for example as follows:

Producer = 50% song ownership, 50% publisher rights ownership
Artist = 50% song ownership, 50% publisher rights ownership

You will then use this agreed percentage of ownership in all the legal documentation pertaining to song copyright ownership. A good example is during the copyright registration (Form PA), application to performing right organizations (e.g. ASCAP, Sound Exchange); etc.

For the sound recording copyright (also known as the masters); you entirely own the recording except for the following cases:

1.) The artist is the one financing the entire recording project and hiring you (paying to you as well for the services rendered) and that the payment is in exchange to the ownership of the sound recording.

2.) The artist is signed to a recording label and that the label/artist is hiring a music producer to create the recordings. Since the label is entirely financing the project, they own the copyright of the masters.

If you are the one financing the recording and your recording studio is used, you own the master recording. When you submit for sound recording copyright application (Form SR). You will be the only author or creator.

Royalties Earned from copyright ownership

Now that the ownership has been agreed, you will then agree with the artist pertaining to the different income streams from copyright. There are as follows:

Music rights (assuming the song is not signed to a third party music publisher):

1.) Sync royalties – when someone licenses the song in relation to TV/video projects. (50%/50% split)
Read: (“Music rights for film“)

2.) Public performance – royalties earned when the song is publicly performed or broadcast. (50%/50% split)
Read: (“Public performance music license“)

3.) Mechanical royalties (50%/50% split) – earnings per mechanical units sold (for third parties licensing the song). (Read:”What is a mechanical license?“)

4.) Master use – this is the royalty paid to the sound recording copyright owner for the use of master recordings. (100% share to the record producer if he owns the recording).

If you are selling and distributing the recordings; you need to agree with the artist pertaining to the share of sales units. Typically, this goes like this:

Recording artist royalties on downloads and sales of records – 30%
Producer royalties per downloads and sales – 70%

You have a higher percentage of shares if you own the master recording copyright. Things are very different when the records are released and owned by a recording label, the royalty share are as follows:

Artist royalties – 5%
Producer royalties – 5%

The remaining percentage goes to the recording label (that owns the recording). Of course, they also use the budget to further market the recording.

Other Important Terms to be agreed

As a summary, below are the most important terms to be included on the agreement with the artist. Hiring a lawyer can finalize all these important terms.

1.) Your responsibility as a producer – it should be stated in the agreement your task and responsibilities (e.g. creating the sound recording of the song to the satisfaction of the artist).

2.) Advance fees (if agreed) – this is optional only if you want to get paid with advance payment to get the recording started. In some cases, this advance is recoupable on your future royalties.

3.) Delivery of masters – includes the deadline, recording schedule and the method of delivery of master recording to your recording artist. You should also agree to terms pertaining to master recording revision, etc.

4.) List and number of songs to be recorded.

5.) Distribution of payments.

There might be some other terms, for the rest you need to consult with an entertainment lawyer.

About the recommended book for record producers, I own the book entitled “How to be a record producer in the digital era” by Megan Perry. It was a great book for new music producers as it covers all aspects of music production including the creative and legal topics. The paperback version is around $14 in Amazon.

If you are ready, let’s get started…

The Necessary Preparation

Check item #1: Do you have hits?

The truth is, submitting songs to an artist is like shooting a bow and arrow aiming a very far target. You are going to have a lot of misses and a few hits along the way. You can increase the chances of success by submitting only the very best songs in your catalog. These are your hits.

Now this can be tricky, almost every songwriter claims to have written some hit songs when in fact they are not. I recommend you read the following useful tutorial on truthfully assessing your songs and your catalog:

a.) 6 Most Proven Hit Songwriting Tips
b.) How to Write or Make a Hit Song

Check item#2: Do you have a clear and professionally sounding demo?

You need to produce a demo of your hit songs. This is the way how your song can be heard by the artist and their producers. The demo music production does not need to be super-expensive or fully produced. All it takes is a simple acoustic guitar demo (vocals and an acoustic guitar) and it’s done.

If you cannot sing, better find some singers with “highly similar” voice quality with your targeted artists. In this way, the artist can “easily” relate the song and increases the chances of having your song included in their future projects.

The easiest way to produce this demo is to rent a recording studio and pay on a per hour basis. This won’t cost much since there are only two tracks that will be recorded. Just make sure that you are fully rehearsed before going to the studio. If you are ambitious enough or plan to pursue a career in songwriting. You can create your own recording studio. For details about producing your own demo, you can refer to the following tutorials:

a.) Recording a Demo CD for an Artist – if you want to do it in your own.

b.) How to Create a Vocal-Acoustic Guitar Demo – the standard procedure for producing an easy acoustic guitar and vocals demo.

c.) How to make your own “unplugged” acoustic recording at home? –if you have a studio mixer but don’t have an audio interface- very raw recording. Not recommended though if you are looking for a very polished demo.

d.) How to Easily Convert your PC into a Recording Studio? -if you want to create a home studio for creating demo.

The most important thing to remember is that you should be submitting a professionally sounding demo. Don’t submit demo to an artist which was created by your cassette recorder!

Check item#3: Do you have the legal ownership of the song?

Just because you wrote the song does not mean you have legal ownership of the song. These two can be very different in the eyes of copyright laws. Legal ownership means that you are recognized by your government as the legal owner of the work. The official evidence of ownership is simply a copyright certificate.

Before submitting your songs to an artist, you need to register it to your government copyright office. There are however two forms of copyright in music industry.

1.) Copyright of music and lyrics
2.) Copyright of sound recording

As a songwriter, you should only be applying for a copyright of music and lyrics. This is usually form PA in the copyright forms. Form SR is for sound recording. But in some instances, you might also be creating a demo of your own song. So in this case, you own the demo sound recording copyright and you need to file a separate copyright for that (sound recording copyright Form SR). You can read the following useful references relating to copyright application:

a.) Copyright Mistakes to Avoid in Music Production & Songwriting

b.) How to Submit Sound Recording Copyright Application

c.) Understanding the Sound Recording Copyright Registration Process

Ways to Submit your Song Demo to an Artist

OK so you have complied with all the requisites as discussed in the previous section. It’s now the time to actually send your song demo to an artist. This is often the trickiest stage. Luckily there are a lot of ways you can do this. Let’s illustrate them one by one.

1.) You can visit the artist official website and look for contact information relating to submitting the demo. This can be difficult because not all of them accepts demo from the public. Some artist might accept provided you comply with some procedures.

2.) You can search in the Internet for the manager representing the artist. The manager has the power to recommend songs to an artist.Get in touch first with the artist manager.

3.) Some artist have very friendly attitude towards the public in social networks. So you might want to become one of their fans or followers and personally send them a message or post on their official page that you want to submit a demo. You can possibly get a reply.

4.) If you have some budget, you search in the Internet for an entertainment lawyer specializing in submitting song demos to an artist producer, manager or directly to the artist. You will pay the lawyer for these services. Be sure to check the entertainment lawyer background and ensure that he/she knows the artist well.

5.) Artist may be very difficult to reach or contact personally by either email or in any other ways but not their producers. The record producers are very easy to contact. Simply buy one of the artist albums to get to know the producer. And then search their name in Google. Most likely they have their own website or a social networking profile. Contact them and ask for procedures on submitting a demo. They can be very polite to reply.

6.) Some artist are singer-songwriters. If they are songwriters, they are represented by a music publisher. Find out their music publisher and then submit songs first to the publisher. You will know this information by performing a song copyright search.

The music publishers have the power to recommend songs to the artist label. As a songwriter, you can join with the publisher so that you can easily recommend songs to an artist you like.

7.) In artist social circles, they have close friends. Probably you can befriend their close friends first. Once you get to know them, you might want them to hear your song demo. If they like it, tell them to submit that song demo to the artist. If the song is great, the artist would probably like it and have it included in their future albums. There are a lot of songs submitted in this way, the key is knowing the right person to submit.

You have read stories of successful songwriters making a good living out of their hit songs. And even a single hit song can really have a big impact on the songwriter financial lives. The problem is that hit songs do not come naturally and is rare to find. Only a small percentage of released singles could actually become long term hits.

Below are some of the proven techniques for producing hit songs that are observed from the songwriting legends like Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney, as well as many others. If you like to produce hit songs, then you should try the following tips below.

Tip#1: Write as many songs as you can

The percent probability of producing hit songs is VERY rare. For example the Beatles has around 54 hit songs in their entire career, yet the Beatles wrote a total of 275 songs.

So the hit song percentage is:

Hit song percent = 54/275 ~20%

And take note that this 20% hit song percentage comes from the collaboration of two songwriting legends (Lennon/McCartney). For single songwriters, you should expect a lesser percentage.

For example Bob Dylan wrote a total of 450 songs as of 2009 and there are around 25 hit songs (not even one of them reaches number 1 position in the charts). This percentage would be around: 25/450= ~5%

The point is that if you are an aspiring songwriter and frustrated that no one accepts your songs, check how many songs you already written. If you only wrote 5 songs; then do not expect you already have a hit song out of your very small catalog. You need to write more songs, to increase the chances of writing a hit song.

Based on a 5% probability (average to exceptional songwriter), you need to write at least 20 original songs to score at least a single hit song.

Legendary writers know this secret; it is why they write so many songs in their entire lives. Paul McCartney has around 500 songs written. And if you look at the catalog of big music publishing companies they have thousands of songs, yet only a very few of them are hits.

Tip#2: Be a perfectionist-rewrote for perfection

Since tip#1 told you to write as many songs as you can, there is still no excuse for poor quality. Exceptional songwriters and composers spend a LOT of time crafting even a single song. Some of them can even complete a single song in 2 weeks time or even more.

You need to put more emphasis on quality when writing songs. Focus on the lyrics, story, melody and the hook of the song (what the listener should remember always, this is often the melody of the chorus).

Despite the genius and true legend of Beethoven; he only wrote 9 symphonies. Why? Beethoven always revises those symphonies over and over again until it sounds perfect. Beethoven is not after the quantity he wrote, but the quality of his musical output.

After so many years, Beethoven nine symphonies are highly regarded as the finest musical achievement ever made. The secret: be a perfectionist. Below are some important songwriting tutorials that can help you achieve perfection:

1.) How to Write or Make a Hit Song?
2.) How to become a professional songwriter?

Tip#3: Use common hit song chord sequences

If you already sung the hit songs using either a guitar or a piano, you noticed that the chord sequences are common and repeatable from one song to another. They have similar pattern. For example, these are very common hit song chord sequences:

C-Am-F-G
G-Em-C-D
C-G-Am-F
C-Em-F-G
Am-F-C-G
Bm-G-D-A
D-A-G-A
G-D-Em-C
Em-C-G-D
G-C-G-C
F-Dm-Bb-C
D-A-Bm-G

If you are writing songs, make sure you are using the above chord sequences; it will substantially increase your chances of writing hit songs.

Tip#4: Let the child sing

Some rare tips in hit songwriting are testing the strong of the hook. Some songs you have just listened today may not be memorable in the next day. If songs have some melodies and words that stick on your mind longer, then it has the qualities of a hit song.

One of the reliable tests is to sing your song to a child (7 years old at most). Play it a couple times (once every day for two days) and observed how the child remembers the song each time when it’s being played.

The final test is that after a couple days; let the child sing the chorus tune. If the child could remember the tune perfectly then you have just wrote a hit song.

Tip#5: Be original and be yourself

Legendary songwriters wrote songs by themselves, influenced by a lot of factors such as the society, culture, etc.

One problem with songwriters today is the lack of originality; the theme of the song repeats over and over again from one songwriter to another. To be original, just be yourself and wrote what you really write to share and relate. Being original lets you easily find your unique selling proposition and would be tremendous help in marketing your music.

Kurt Cobain wrote some of the finest songs in Nirvana. Inspired by anger, loneliness and even by his own personal problem; he express all of them in writing and that what make his songs unique and outstanding. You can easily distinguish Nirvana songs from the rest of the artist. The key is to be unique.

Bob Dylan is the voice of the 60’s; if you understand the lyrics of his songs, it would convey a lot of information about the politics and culture on that time. It is why his songs have some value in people lives.

Tip#6: Write with common structure and arrangement

It’s OK to be unique with structuring the song. But most hit songs do have some common structure. These are the following:

1.) Verse- Chorus – Verse
2.) Verse –Chorus – Verse – Bridge
3.) Chorus – Verse – Chorus –Bridge

As you have observed, all song structure used in hit songs do include a chorus. A common mistake in songwriting is ignoring the importance of chorus. And even you include a chorus, make sure it stands out from your song and make it sound different from your stanza or bridge.

It can be a different scenario for independent film makers or small movie production companies. It is because they do not have its own lawyers or experts in music licensing working for them all the time. It is essential for them to know the music rights for film. Knowing these rights can be helpful for them to get permission to use copyrighted music on their film project.

If you are an independent movie/film producer that wants to legally music in your project; then make sure you know the rights that you need to be cleared before you can start working in your project.

What are the important music rights for film?

1. Right to synchronization – these are popularly called “sync” rights. These are the rights for music to be used and synchronized together with film visual images. In layman’s term; this is synonymous with the film “sound track”. The licensing fee for sync depends on the music publisher and the licensee budget.
It can be as low as $5 to as high as thousands of dollars for popular hit songs.

For more information about licensing fees/cost, you can read the following posts:

Typical music licensing fees and cost for different projects

Tips on saving music licensing fees

2. Right to use the sound recording/master recording rights – these are called “master recording rights”, the owner is typically the recording producer. Some independent music publishers are also recording producers and they also hold the rights of the sound recording.

For most of the time, the owner is the recording label; the one that finances the recording project. Another good example is the indie artist/producer that both write and produces the song. The artists wrote the song and then using his/her home studio, the master recording of that song was created. To make sure the artist original work would be protected; the artist obtains both the copyright of the song and the master recording.

The indie artist can then license this work to any interested parties such as movie/film and TV producers. Take note that in a situation like this, the artist functions both as a music publisher and a master recording rights owner.

If you plan to use the song but decides to create your own master recording for the use in the projects; then you do not need to acquire sound recording rights. You simply need to ask permission from the music publisher to cover the song. Once granted; you start making your own master recording of that song and use it in your film.

The licensing fee depends on the music publisher and the budget of the film producer. It can be as low as $5 to as high as thousands of dollars for very popular songs.

Normally in a film production where music needs to be synchronized with the film visual images, then the sync and use of master recording rights are only required (which 95% of the indie film producers should need to be cleared). But these are not the only rights which you might need to acquire for your film project.

You can read more about this topic on understanding the sound recording copyright.

3. Mechanical rights – after completing your film project. You might need to burn it to several copies of DVD which you might sell to movie shops or even distribute it to other people. The reproduction of recorded medium (DVD, film strips, CDs, video cassette) requires you to acquire mechanical rights from the music publisher of the song/ music. If you do not plan to distribute your work along with the licensed music then you do not need to acquire these rights.

In most cases (such as in Hollywood film projects), they are released and distributed to several copies (DVDS, VCD, film strips), so they should need to acquire mechanical rights. Bear in mind that independent film makers do not distribute their movies to the public. They are provided to movie distributors. Thus the film makers are not the one to obtain mechanical rights but only the distributors. The distributors would do the actual work of distributing the movies to several copies and have it available for sale.

If the music publisher is Harry Fox affiliated, then you need to arrange and get permission from them. Otherwise if the music publisher is not affiliated you need to contact the publisher directly. The licensing fee depends on the number of copies to be sold or distributed. For example, the distributor would be paying high mechanical licensing fees if thousands or millions of copies would be distributed. Permanent digital downloads are also included in mechanical rights licensing.

Learn more about this topic on this post about what is a mechanical license agreement.

4. Performance rights – once the project has been released to the public (like shown in theaters), the music will be publicly performed along with the movie. Thus, any commercial use should pay performance royalties. However as an independent film maker, you are not responsible for this but only those commercial venues that publicly show your film. In this case, movie theaters, cable channels and television stations which are the ones releasing or using your film project will be the one to pay performance royalties not you. Read more about this in public performance music license.

Summary of Music Rights

Sync Rights – required all the time. So every independent film maker should clear these rights with the music publisher.

Master use rights – required also. You need to ask permission from the owner of the sound recording which in this case might not be the music publisher or the songwriter of the song. You need to double check.

Mechanical rights – required. You need to clear this right so that the music and your film can be distributed in copies (DVD, hard drive, CD, blue ray, etc).

Performance rights – not required, unless you are the one that will be publicly perform the film in the public. In most cases, you are not.

In other aspects, you also need to ask permission about adaptation rights, so that means you can edit and adapt the song to whatever it suits with the film. This also needs to be negotiated with the music publisher. If you are showing the lyrics of the song in the screen, you need to be granted with print rights by the music publisher.

Content last updated on April 1, 2012