A song earns performance royalties. How much belongs to the songwriter? How much belongs to the publisher? And what happens when a publishing administrator takes a commission? These are different questions, and the answer depends…
Tag: music publishing
DistroKid launched its Publishing administration service in October 2026. But the service is not yet available to every songwriter. DistroKid’s current eligibility guidance states that an account must have at least five and no more…
You can change music distributors. You can also change publishing administrators. But moving publishing administration is different from transferring a recording between Spotify distributors. The process involves composition registrations, collection mandates, existing contracts and royalties…
You register an original song with a publishing administrator. Then you discover another company has already registered the composition. Or one co-writer claims a different ownership percentage. The result can be a publishing conflict. These…
You distribute your recordings through one company. Does that company also need to administer your songwriting? No. Music distribution and publishing administration are different services. An independent artist can often use one company to deliver…
An artist signs up with a publishing administrator. Does that mean someone will now pitch their music to Netflix, advertisers and game developers? Not necessarily. Publishing administration and sync licensing are connected, but they are…
DistroKid has introduced a music publishing administration service, giving independent songwriters another way to collect royalties generated by the compositions they write. The new service was formally announced on 5 October 2026. That makes it…
Record labels and music publishers perform different jobs. A label may control the master recording while the artist retains their songwriting rights. That means a label receiving streaming money does not automatically mean the songwriter’s…
Publishing royalties can be frustratingly slow. Your distributor may report streaming royalties within a couple of months. Publishing income can take considerably longer. That does not necessarily mean anything is wrong. Why publishing takes longer…
A PRO and a music publisher are not the same thing. For songwriters, understanding the difference can mean the difference between collecting one part of your income and collecting much more of what the composition…
