What is music publishing, and why is it essential for songwriters and producers?

• Music publishing is the business of managing, promoting, and monetizing musical compositions and their associated copyrights. It focuses on the underlying composition of a song—the melody, lyrics, and arrangement—rather than the recorded performance of it.

Simple Terms: It's the management and collection of money earned whenever someone uses your song

How do publishers differ from labels in representing creators?

• Labels focus on representing artists and their recorded music, while publishers represent songwriters and producers, ensuring their compositions are properly managed and monetized.

Simple Terms: Labels focus on making the record successful; Publishers focus on making money from the song itself.

What are the different types of publishing royalties creators can earn?

• Mechanical Royalties: Earned when music is reproduced or distributed, like streaming or physical sales.
• Performance Royalties: Earned when music is performed publicly, like in live settings or on radio, TV.
• Sync Royalties: Sync licensing occurs when music is used in visual media like films, TV shows, commercials, or video games. For instance, a producer's beat might be featured in a Netflix series, generating significant exposure and revenue.
• Sheet Music: Less known, but if you have it, it’s collected.

What are "black box royalties," and how can creators avoid losing them?

• Black Box Royalties are unclaimed royalties held by collection societies due to missing or incorrect registration data.
• Creators can avoid losing them by accurately registering their works with a publisher or at minimum, a PRO (Performance Rights Organization) in a timely manner. 

What type of Publishing “deal” do I need? 

• Publishing deals outline how royalties are split and what rights the publisher will manage.
• The Majority of creators should look for terms that ensure they retain ownership while allowing publishers to maximize revenue opportunities.
• There are other types of publishing deals that offer advances, some admin, but they usually include giving up 50% of your ownership and the terms change dramatically. 
• Ex.: 1-Year Admin Deal w/ 1-Year Retention (Standard Admin Deal) vs 3-Year Admin Deal w $50,000 Advance w/ 3-Year Retention
• Ex. 2: 1-Year Admin Deal w/ 1-Year Retention (Standard Admin Deal) vs 3-Year Co-Publishing Deal with $250,000 Advance and 7-Year Retention. 
• Ex. 3: Songs w/ publisher for 2 years, 6 years and 10 years.‍

‍Real Example of Admin Deal

• You create a song and register it.
• Administrator/Publisher collects money when it's used.
• If they collect $1,000:
  • You get $800-900
  • They keep $100-200

‍Real Example of Co-Publishing Deal

• The publisher gives you $10,000 advance upfront.
• You create a song and register it.
• They own part of your songs for an extended period of time. **Even after advance is recouped.
• They collect $1,000 in royalties:
  • You get $500
  • They get $500‍

Quick Tips to Optimize Publishing Earnings

• Sign-up with a PRO to acquire an IPI # (your social security # in the publishing world) and collect your performance royalties writer share. 
• Sign-up with a reputable publisher to register your works and collect mechanical royalties, performance royalties publisher share, synchronization royalties and sheet music royalties. 
• Organize your catalog using tools like google sheets, MUSO.ai, Genius and DSP’s. Utilize these FREE Templates to help
• When registering, ensure accurate song registration. Your publisher will deliver your records to your home PRO, so no need to register twice. 
• Monitor splits and ownership details
• Once your songs are registered and sent out, it takes about 6-months on average to start seeing money come in. This could be minimal.
• Over all, it takes about 18-24 months to see the majority of your money, but times vary based on location, age of song, platform, ownership %, are there any holds on the record, etc…
• Publishing is very unpredictable, so exercise patience.

When BeatStars provides your royalty estimate, several factors are taken into account. Similar to other royalty calculators, we calculate the total earnings from both your US-based mechanical royalties.

As part of the process, you’ll have the opportunity to input your ownership percentage in the designated field. Using that information, we’ll divide the mechanical royalties you’ve earned by your ownership percentage. If you’re unsure of your ownership percentage, list 100% ownership for the calculation’s purpose. However, please note that the estimates we provide may not be entirely accurate, as your percentage is likely shared with collaborators.

Below, we’ve outlined definitions for mechanical royalties, and the PROs responsible for paying out those royalties.

What are mechanical royalties?

Consider this the side of publishing that generates royalties that come from streaming platforms – Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. 

Essentially, if a listener makes the effort of choosing a song and physically pushing play on their computer to listen to the song, then you’re entitled to mechanical royalties. 

What are performance oyalties?

Let’s say you walk into a bar, club or restaurant, a mall, an arena or a retail establishment and you hear music playing. Since you or someone else did not physically push play to listen to the song, it generates a performance royalty. Those royalties are then collected by a Performing Rights Organization (more on that below), and paid to the songwriters, composers, and music publishers who own the original work.

What is a PRO? 

A Performing Rights Organization (PRO) represents the copyrighted musical works of songwriters, composers, and music publishers. In the U.S., the main PROs are BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. 

These organizations are responsible for collecting performance royalties from businesses and entities that use music publicly, such as bars, clubs, restaurants, malls, streaming platforms, radio stations, and live performance venues. They then distribute these royalties to the rightful copyright holders.

Sign up for a PRO for free with BeatStars Publishing and get paid

Signing up to a PRO is fairly simple. The selection of PROs depends on the country you live in. For our purposes, we’ll use U.S. PROs as examples. 

Your PRO will send you an IPI number, which is basically your “fingerprint” within the publishing world. It’s a number that is unique to you that you will have for the duration of your career. Once you have your IPI number from your PRO, you can sign up with BeatStars Publishing! 

‍Here is a list of all of the PROs and societies we support around the world. 

Heads up! If you do not have an IPI number, BeatStars has partnered with IMRO to generate and process IPI numbers immediately and for free. During your BeatStars Publishing onboarding process, you will be guided through an IMRO set-up process. By default, IMRO members are affiliated with ASCAP for U.S. representation. However, if you choose to register their works differently, opting for SESAC or BMI, your representation will be adjusted accordingly.

When registering your tracks, you only need to register them once time with BeatStars Publishing. Your registrations are ingested into the Sony Score system, and are sent out to all the PROs and Societies worldwide. On top of that, your registrations are sent to your home PRO and registered, saving you the time to register them yourselves. Your PRO will still pay you for their collection of performance royalties, but we also have streamlined the process for you.

Not every song you create can be monetized through publishing. To help you steer clear of copyright issues and potential legal complications, we’ve put together a quick guide on the types of songs that can’t be registered for publishing.

Samples

• Unless you have an agreement that is from the owner of the master and the writer of the record that lists that the sample has been cleared to use, do not register the record. 
  • Why? Because you do not have the proper permission to use it or collect money from it. Producers should never be in charge of clearing samples at all – it should be done by people who own the master recording (label or the artist).
  • What is a sample? Sampling is taking a snippet of the recording (such as the notes, vocals, or drums) of someone else’s song and using it in your song.
  • Reminder: If there is a sample that needs to be cleared and the releasing party (aka the artist or their label) has yet to clear it, hold off on registering since you will not know your true publishing splits until the sample is cleared. 

Interpolations

• While you can upload your remixes to Spotify and other DSPs, you cannot collect publishing royalties from them.
  • Why? You did not create any of the original words written or instruments to the song. Instead, you created a new work based on someone else’s original creation. 
  • What is an interpolation? If you take a small part of a song, such as a melody or a catchy line of lyrics, and use it in your song, it’s an interpolation. It’s like borrowing a piece of an existing song and adding it to your own. 

Covers

• Similar to remixes, you can upload your covers to Spotify and other DSPs but you cannot collect publishing royalties from them.
  • Why? You did not create any of the original words written or instruments to the song. Instead, you created a derivative work based on someone else’s original creation. ‍
  • What is a cover? A cover is your own version of a song that has already been written, recorded, and released by another artist.

Keep this in mind

One of the best organizations to familiarize yourself with is the Mechanical License Collective (MLC). The MLC is an organization that ensures that creators are paid for their fair share of mechanical royalties. In recent years, they established the Music Modernization Act, which administers a blanket mechanical license for digital service providers (DSPs).

In 2021, many DSPs began operating under this blanket license. That means for compulsory cover songs distributed to blanket-licensee DSPs only, a mechanical license for interactive audio streams (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) will no longer be required.

Title of the track

This may seem obvious, but it’s extremely important that we know the exact name of the song to get you paid. Our publishing portal pulls from Spotify to automatically fill in information like the genre, song length, and the ISRC code (which is basically like a unique digital barcode that identifies a specific song). So, as long as the song is on Spotify, it will show up in our system as a song you can register.

• What if my song isn’t on Spotify? If your song is not on Spotify, please email our support team at publishing@beatstars.com to have your track manually registered. 
• What if my song title is in a different language and is rejected? If any of your tracks are in a different language and are rejected, please reach out to publishing@beatstars.com. 

Legal names (including suffixes) of every songwriter involved 

This seems like another obvious item, but it’s extremely crucial to have all of the legal names of every songwriter to get you paid without delay. Be sure to list any suffixes (“Jr.’s or Sr.’s”) in the names as well. some text

• Why? This ensures that the correct song is being credited to the right person AND that money will flow to you and not someone else with the same name. Also, having all of the legal information will ensure you get paid on time or even quicker. 
• Keep in mind: When submitting names to BeatStars Publishing, there is a 20-character limit. 
• If you don’t have all the legal names available, try the below: some textsome text
  • Spotify credits – You can find a list of songwriters by searching the song on Spotify, clicking the three dots on the far right side of the song, and clicking “Show credits.”

• Muso.ai – This is an easy-to-use platform to search for credits by artist name, track title, and album name.‍
• Genius.com – Once you search a song on Genius, you may find the artist’s legal name when hovering over their artist name. ‍
• Google search – Though this may seem obvious, sometimes a quick Google search may pull up the artist name you’re looking for. Use this specific link to start your search. Google phrases like “Legal name for [artist]” or “Legal name for [artist name] and [song name].”‍
• BMI Repertoire – This platform allows you to search song titles and artist/songwriter/producer names from BMI and ASCAP.

If you have exhausted all of these options and still cannot find their legal name, list their artist/producer name. Do not leave the name blank and do not put “Unknown” or “N/A.” 

Proper splits

Splits are the percentages of ownership that each songwriter has. For example, let’s say you produced a beat, then an artist rapped over it and is planning on releasing it. You and the artist would negotiate your songwriting splits – you would get 50% and the artist would own 50%). some text

• What if I have collaborators? If you collaborated with other creators to make the beat, then you and your collaborators will split the 50%. some textsome text
  • You can all split the percentage equally or split it based on the level of each person’s contribution. For example, if you laid the drums, piano, and kick, and your collaborator only added a snare, then you may negotiate 40% for yourself and 10% for your collaborator.

Splits are usually found in the contract that either 1) you gave to the artist via your BeatStars contract or 2) the record label or artist sent to you. If you do not have the proper splits in a document that has been agreed to by both you and the other songwriters involved, consider using our CRA service. We can help you generate the proper paperwork needed to register your song.  some text

• Keep in mind: If there is a sample that needs to be cleared and the releasing party (aka the artist or their label) has yet to clear it, hold off on registering since you will not know your true publishing splits until the sample is cleared. 

• Keep in mind that the percentages MUST equal 100% when all are added together.
  • Why? Any songs submitted with splits that add up to more or less than 100% will be rejected in our portal.

If there are multiple songwriters involved and you do not know their percentages, that’s OK. All you need to do is subtract your percentage from 100%. Then, divide the remaining percentage by the number of other songwriters there are. Once you register, our team will be able to verify the proper splits for the other songwriters.some text

• Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re a producer by the name of Cold Beats. Four rappers named Yung Rap, Blue Box, Hot Bars, and Lil Green hopped on your beat and are planning on releasing. You begin filling out a split sheet to secure your publishing but don’t know how much of the publishing the rappers own. Since you were the only producer, you know that you get 50%. Since there’s only 50% of the song left to split, divide 50% by 4 (since there are four rappers) and it equals 12.5%. Now, on your split sheet, you’ll list the following and submit via the BeatStars Publishing Portal. some textsome text
  • Your legal name; Producer; 50% 
  • Yung Rap’s legal name; Vocalist; 12.5%
  • Blue Box’s legal name; Vocalist; 12.5% 
  • Hot Bars’ legal name; Vocalist; 12.5% 
  • Lil Green’s legal name; Vocalist; 12.5%

• Here’s another example: Let’s pretend you’re a producer and collaborate with another producer named Mateo Made It. Two rappers named Webb Flows and T. Rampe hopped on the beat you and Mateo Made It created. You and Mateo Made It would split 50% of the song (25%) each, and the rest of the rappers would split the remaining 50%. See how the split sheet should read below.some textsome text
  • Your legal name; Producer 25%
  • Mateo Made It’s legal name; Producer; 25%
  • Webb Flow’s legal name; Vocalist; 25%
  • T. Rampe’s legal name; Vocalist; 25%

BEST PRACTICE TO GET YOU PAID QUICKER: Always have these three items ready to go and in order before submitting your songs. Any missing information will delay your payments. 

As a music creator, your passion for making music drives everything you do, but have you considered how to transform that passion into a sustainable career?

One crucial aspect that every creator should focus on from the start is music publishing.

What is Music Publishing?

Music publishing is the process of managing a song's rights to ensure songwriters, including producers, get paid when their music is used. Understanding and leveraging music publishing is essential for any serious music creator.

Long-Term Revenue

Every time your music is played, whether on the radio, in a club, on a streaming platform, or in a commercial, you earn royalties. These payments can continue to flow in for years, providing a steady income stream long after the initial release. By securing your publishing rights, you ensure that you're properly compensated for your work's ongoing use.

Ownership and Control

Owning your publishing rights means maintaining control over how your music is used. You decide where and how it's played, ensuring it aligns with your artistic vision. Own your publishing to keep a larger share of the revenue and steer your career in the direction you want.

Value Appreciation

Just like real estate, the value of your music can appreciate over time. As your career progresses and your music gains popularity, your catalog becomes more valuable. Music publishing is an investment in your future. By building a catalog of published works, you're creating a portfolio that can generate income for decades to come. 

Legacy Building

Music publishing can be a source of generational wealth. Retain ownership of your publishing rights, and your family can continue to benefit from royalties and licensing deals. Secure your publishing to invest in your own future and the future of your loved ones.

Take Control of Your Music's Future

As a music creator in today's industry, it's essential to understand and prioritize music publishing. By securing your publishing rights, you're ensuring long-term revenue, maintaining control over your music's use, building a valuable portfolio, and creating a lasting legacy. Don't let this crucial aspect of your career fall by the wayside.

At BeatStars, we're committed to helping creators navigate this complex landscape. Through BeatStars Publishing, which has already collected over $__ million in royalties for our creators, we offer services to help you secure your rights, collect royalties, and maximize earnings.

Welcome to BeatStars Publishing - we’re thrilled you’ve chosen us to support your music publishing journey!

We launched BeatStars Publishing in partnership with the world’s #1 music publisher, Sony Music Publishing , because we want to give musicians like YOU:

🔒 100% ownership of your music

💰 80/20 splits for mechanical royalties

💬 Hands-on customer support

💪 The power to maximize your earning potential

So what's next?

In order to collect your royalties, you will need to properly register your tracks in our BeatStars Publishing Portal.

Search for your song, select it, and move on to adding your collaborators’ full names and percentages, if applicable (please ensure the percentages add up to 100%).

Press “Publish” and once approved, your song(s) will be delivered to Sony Score where it will be sent out for collection to over 200 worldwide Performing Rights Organizations and Societies!

The most important thing to remember when registering a record is to include every writers full name and publishing split. Writers can be artists or producers, so make sure you reference your agreement to ensure you are including each collaborators full name and proper publishing split.

To further clarify, you are not registering your collaborators publishing shares; you are giving clarity to us and all the PRO's/Societies who else is on the song.

The more complete the data is, the quicker it will be approved and start collecting. Submitting incomplete data usually leads to rejected songs.

Where do I track my royalties?

In order to track your royalties and payments, Sony Music Publishing will be emailing you to set up your Sony Score account.

Please be on the lookout for their email (check your spam). If you have not received an email from Sony Music Publishing after 2 weeks of signing up with BeatStars Publishing, please email publishing@beatstars.com.

For more information on Publishing and BeatStars Publishing, check out our Ultimate Guide to Music Publishing.

- Written by Mike "Producer Whisperer" Trampe

The BeatStars Publishing roster crushed their goals, earned chart spots, received plaques and had multiple Grammy nominations, and a win!

While we push forward to 2024 (New Playboi Carti co-produced by Onokey), we reflect on 2023 and all the amazing things our members have accomplished.

The songs below combine for over 6 BILLION STREAMS on Spotify and Youtube only!

Happy New Year!

‍D4VD - “Romantic Homicide”

• Certified RIAA 2X Platinum
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts - US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs - #10
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts - Global 200 - #163
• Produced by Dan Darmawan

D4VD - “Here With Me”

• Certified RIAA Platinum
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts - US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs - #12
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts - Global 200 - #100
• 2023 Canadian Hot 100 Year End Charts - #97
• Produced by Dan Darmawan

Both songs combined for over 2 Billion Streams on Spotify & Youtube only!

Juju <3 - “Wasted Summers”

• 2023 Billboard US Hot Alternative Songs - Peaked at #13
• 2023 Billboard US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs - Peaked at #32
• US Billboard Hot Rock Songs - Peaked at #25
• UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart - Peaked at #8
• Produced by Dan Darmawan

Future ft.Drake & Tems - “Wait For U”

• 2023 Grammy Winner
• Certified RIAA 3X Platinum
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts - Global 200 -  #144
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts - US Billboard Hot 100 -  #83
• Co-produced by 1srael

Just shy of 1 Billion Streams on  Spotify & Youtube only!

Yng Lvcas x Peso Pluma - “La Bebe"

• Certified RIAA 4X Platinum
• Produced by Hasa King Beatz

Yng Lvcas x Peso Pluma - “La Bebe (Remix)”

• Certified RIAA 13X Platinum
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts #11 - Global 200
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts #40 - US Billboard Hot 100
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts #2 - US Hot Latin Songs 
• Produced by Hasa King Beatz

DJ Khaled ft. Future & Sza - “Beautiful”

• 2023 Grammy Nominated
• Co-produced by KXVI & Paola

Rylo Rodriguez - “Equal Dirt”

• Billboard Hot 100 - Peaked at #100
• Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Peaked at #28
• Billboard Hot Rap Songs - Peaked at #20
• Co-produced by KXVI & Paola

Glorilla x Hitkidd - “F.N.F. (Let's Go)”

• 2023 Grammy Nominated
• Certified RIAA Platinum
• Produced by Hitkidd

Byron Messia - “Talibans”

• Produced by EJ Fya
• Sold via EASTBIRD Global BeatStars Store

Byron Messia x Burna Boy - “Talibans II”

• 2024 Grammy Nominated
• 2023 Canadian Hot 100 - Peaked at #53
• 2023 New Zealand Hot Singles - Peaked at #39
• 2023 US Billboard Hot 100 - Peaked at #99
• 2023 UK Hip Hop/R&B -Peaked at  #20
• Produced by EJ Fya
• Sold via EASTBIRD Global BeatStars Store

310babii -  “Soak City”

• Shazam Charts - Peaked at #1
• TikTok Billboard Top 50 - Peaked at #24
• Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 - Peaked at #2
• Billboard Hot 100 - Peaked at #100
• Co-produced by Donez

310babii ft. Blueface, Tyga, Mustard, OhGeesy & BlueBucksClan - “Soak City Remix”

ARIZONATEARS ft. Lil Uzi Vert - “Watch This”

• Certified RIAA Platinum
• 2023 Billboard Year End Charts #60 -  US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
• Canadian Hot 100 - Peaked at #41
• Billboard Global 200 - Peaked at #75
• Billboard US Billboard Hot 100 - Peaked at #56
• Billboard US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Peaked at #19
• Over 300 Million Streams on Spotify & Youtube Only!
• Produced by ARIZONATEARS

Tee Grizzley ft. Skilla Baby - “Gorgeous”

• Tik Tok Billboard Top 50 - Peaked at #11
• Co-produced by ProdByKaio

Tee Grizzley ft. Skilla Baby & City Girls - “Gorgeous Remix”

Gucci Mane ft. Lil Baby - “Bluffin”

• US Billboard Hot 100 - Peaked at #100
• Billboard US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Peaked at #40
• Co-produced by LMC x Indyah x Square

AP Dhillon - “With You”

• Canadian Hot 100 - Peaked at #41
• New Zealand Hot Singles - Peaked at #14
• Billboard India - Peaked at #2
• Billboard Global 200 - Peaked at #137
• Produced by Rebbel

Flo Milli - “Never Lose Me”

• Billboard Hot 100 - Peaked at #84
• Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Peaked at #21
• Canadian Hot 100 - Peaked at #91
• Produced by Gerreaux

2024 is going to be a historic year!

If you're not collecting your publishing royalties fully (or you're not sure), sign up or learn more below.

BeatStars’ mission has always been about putting the power back into the hands of creators. From paying out over $200 million to its community, to offering accessible distribution services, BeatStars has strived to change the game by dismantling locks on a gate-kept music industry. We are now expanding our mission of empowering independent creators even further - by entering and shaking up the world of music publishing.

BeatStars and Sony Music Publishing, the largest music publisher in the world, joined forces in March 2020 with one joint mission: to provide Publishing services to the global BeatStars community of over two million writers, producers, engineers, and artists. The initial launch of BeatStars Publishing was open to select members but has now expanded its availability to ALL BeatStars members.

About BeatStars Publishing

BeatStars Publishing offers key administrative services on behalf of all its songwriters, including registering copyrights with collection societies and performing tracking analysis to ensure that all music consumption is being collected and distributed accurately. In addition to offering administrative services, BeatStars also works with Sony’s major music labels such as Columbia, Epic, and RCA to offer exclusive placement opportunities to BeatStars Publishing members. These opportunities place original songs and beats in many tracks recorded by Sony Music artists. Since its launch in 2020, BeatStars Publishing has represented ground-breaking Producers involved in chart-topping songs including “Calling My Phone” and “Leaked” by Lil Tjay, “Whoopty” by CJ, “Goin’ Baby” by Da Baby, “Demeanor” by Pop Smoke (Ft. Dua Lipa), “Star Shopping” by Lil Peep, and “Fine Apple'' by Nic D.  

BeatStars’ publishing administration service is available free for its premium members with 80/20 splits in favor of its members and under one year terms. “[BeatStars] has successfully created a new lane, fostering the collective talent of emerging songwriters and producers online, and we're looking forward to furthering this effort with Sony Music Publishing’s best-in-class service,” Abe shares.

Getting Started

While the BeatStars Publishing Portal is easy-to-use, we understand that learning the ropes of music publishing can be daunting. It's important to understand how publishing works so you can ensure you're receiving royalties that are due to you after your song has been released!
That’s why we’re breaking it down for you. Download ‘The Ultimate Guide To Music Publishing’ below and get the 101 on how music publishing works, why it will protect you, and how you can start publishing your music today.