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There are many people in the music community today, especially those just starting out, who are unclear about the business of music publishing. So, here is a basic introduction to what is music publishing from a songwriter’s point of view.

In a nutshell, publishing is about recognizing who is the ‘owner’ of a song and then giving them due compensation for use. The owner is the individual who composes the music, arranges the song and pens the lyrics. This can be done by just one person or a group of individuals doing different things.

With some bands, the singer is a lyricist and the guitarist, the composer.

Some bands share the spoils evenly, naming all band members as lyricist and composer.

Now let’s go to the details. There are two halves to the publishing rights of a song. The first half is called the Writer’s share. This share will stay with the songwriters for life. If the songwriter passes away then it will be shared with the beneficiaries. The other half is the Publishers share. The publishers share initially stays with the songwriters. When the writer signs a publishing or co-publishing deal with a music publisher, only then the Publishers share is given out to these parties according to the publishing agreement. As it is, the songwriters sign these deals in exchange for a cash

advance. The music publishers will then act as promoters and promote the song. They will try to get the song recorded (or in publishing jargon,

‘cut’) by an artist or placed in a movie or TV show. They don’t make money unless they get the song used.

What is meant by due compensation? It means to earn royalties from the use of published songs. The most common way to earn royalties is by radio airplay. Every time a song is played on the radio, there is a royalty payment. The more airplay a song gets, the more royalty a writer receives.

Simple as that.

Another way to earn money is to perform live music in public. By right the organisers for any event that chooses to feature a live music performance must pay royalty for every song performed in the event. Now if you are famous enough, your song might be tuned into a karaoke tune or your song might be played in stores or supermarkets. Both of these situations require the facility owner to pay royalties too.

There is also something called mechanical royalty. This comes from the physical copy of a CD. For each copy of the CD, the record label has to pay royalty to the music publishers. There are many more ways a royalty is due for songs, but these are common ones that up and coming songwriters should be aware of.

Who collects the royalties? All these royalties are collected by collective management organizations (CMO). These are not-for-profit organizations that collect royalties on behalf of its members. Three recognized organizations in Malaysia are PPM, MACP and PRISM. Different organizations have different types of members. PPM has recording labels as members, MACP are for composers, lyricists and music publishers while PRISM accepts only recording artists and musicians as its members.

By officially publishing your songs, it paves the way for you to become the members of these CMOs. Then you can start receiving royalties.

Now we’ve seen what is publishing, the mechanisms of publishing and how royalites are collected. But that does not answer the big question – what is the motivation to publish your songs?

There is only one reason why you should publish your song—it’s to profit from it. If you want to publish because you want to protect your songs, then you are doing it for the wrong reason. This is because every song

you write is actually already given protection according to the Copyright Act 1987. As long as writers for the song are identified, then the copyright exists for the song.

How does it apply to you? Let’s say you are an old school hardcore band.

In the saturated world of today’s radio, there is little chance you will get regular airplay. And for most part, you will probably print the CDs yourself and play DIY gigs. As such, I would not advise you to go through the hassle of publishing your songs. You would profit more on your own rather than go through this entire publishing setup to claim what would possibly be small returns.

Now, if you are a radio-friendly pop band and your songs are played on the airwaves quite frequently, then you have a good reason to pursue publishing. Get your song published, and then become a member of a collective management organization such as MACP, PPM or PRISM. After that you can collect what royalties are due to you.

Right now there are a substantial number of bands and solo acts whose songs are being heavily played on radio, but they fail to collect royalties.

Why? Lack of awareness about how publishing works is a clear factor.

Laila’s Lounge took two years after their songs first played on the radio to collect their royalties. There are many more similar cases out there with lesser known bands.

Lastly, I hope this short piece of writing inspires you to equip yourself with the necessary knowledge and take action to claim what is rightfully yours.

Anas Amdan is a producer and composer with Kasi Gegar Entertainment. He also plays with Go Gerila.

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