Actually, it's what I learned in MDIA 3307: Music Publishing and Licensing (not boating school, I'm not Spongebob)

1. Music
Publishing
& Licensing
An evaluation and survey
of MDIA 3307

2. My place in the Industry

3. Currently
 ’s social media marketing
advisor
 Friend and general advisor to local band
Fathers of the Revolution
 General patron of house shows
 Co-founder of WIMI: women in music
industry
 A networking group that holds mentoring
sessions with professionals in the industry

4. Currently (continued)
 Visual artist
 Album art for Evan Sites’ latest single
 Gig posters for various artists

5. The Future
 Artist Manager
 While it poses some difficult work, it’d be a
very rewarding position where I could use a
very hands-on approach and my natural
nurturing personality
 Marketing
 Something I’ve always enjoyed
 A focus on social media marketing and lots
of visual marketing tactics

6. The Future (continued)
 Working for an independent label
 Smaller labels have smaller staffs, meaning each
person is involved in more aspects of a label’s
day to day work and many needs
 Publishing
 Synch licensing
 A interesting and engaging mix of creativity,
business skills, and people skills
 Publisher / administrator
 Working hard for artists to best exploit their
copyrights would be very rewarding

7. What I’ve learned about
music publishing

8. Publishing has many facets
 Not just one revenue stream
 Made up of many parts
 Publishers
 Mechanical royalties, Performance royalties
 Performance Rights Organizations
 Synchronization licenses
 Sundry licenses
 Ect.

9. Types of Publishing Deals
 Administrative Deals
 Writer(s) retain copyrights, publisher hires
administrator who oversees the daily work
 Work-for-hire
 Writer writes song for a company that then
retains the rights to the song
 Co-Publishing
 Usually a 50/50 split
 Sub-publishing
 Deals with foreign administrator

10. Mechanical Royalties
 Royalties paid for physical reproductions of
songs
 The rate for mechanicals is statutory.
 The current rate for mechanicals is 9.1¢
 Mechanical Royalties also apply to covers of
an artist’s songs
 Once permission for a song has been given
once, the mechanical license becomes
compulsory
 Harry Fox Agency administers mechanical
licenses

11. Performance Royalties
 Performance Royalties are earned when
a song is performed, whether it is by the
author, the artist it was written for, or a
cover
 Blanket licenses
 Performance royalties are collected by
performance rights organizations (PROs)

12. PROs
 There are three PROs
 ASCAP, SESAC and BMI
 SESAC is invite only

13. Synchronization Licenses
 Synch licenses are for synching audio to
moving picture, like putting music in a film
 There is no set rate for synch licenses
 Subjective, specialized deals

14. Sundry Licenses
 Sundry licenses cover music used in
advertisements, karaoke, samples and toys,
ect.
 For example: Money in Advertising
 Rates for a 12 month campaign
 Regional: $75,000 - $125,000
 National: $175,000 - $500,000
 Exposure
 Can reinvigorate old artists (Nick Drake & VW)
 Can popularize new artists (Yael Naim & Apple)

15. New Terms & Concepts

16. Administration Deals
 Ownership is retained by writer
 Admin gets a percentage of money that
comes in through publishing
 What I’d recommend to artists, because
good publishers have connections they
don’t

17. Most Favored Nations
 All people get the same deal
 If a film is willing to pay a high amount for
one song, they have to pay that amount
for all songs

18. Controlled Composition
 A three-quarter rate, this allows a label to
only give a writer 75% of the statutory rate
for mechanical royalties
 A way for labels to nickel and dime writers
 If I was managing an artist, I’d make sure
to look out for this

19. What area of the Industry
do I find exciting?

20. Sync Licensing
 Marries the creative side with the business
side, while emphasizing relationships
 Even if you’re only in charge of
obtaining the necessary permissions
and not choosing the music, you’re still
an important part of making a scene
complete

21. Areas of Publishing Revenue
I Can Take Advantage Of In
The Future

22. Administrator
 If I was an administrator I could receive a
percentage of the money coming in,
agreed upon with the copyright holder

23. Pitching songs
 I would receive a portion of money from a
sync license deal if I pitched a song and
got it placed in a film, ad or tv show

24. PRO – operating expenses
 PROs take a portion of performance
royalty income for operating expenses
 If I worked for a PRO, I would get paid
from the money taken for operating
expenses

25. How has my viewpoint of
the industry changed?

26. This course built upon a
foundation
 The Business of Selling Music course gave a a solid
foundation
 This course built upon that foundation
 We went much more in depth on concepts
 Taking this in conjunction with the SXSW trip really
helped me grasp concepts discussed at panels
and in mentor sessions
 I feel confident and informed about issues within
the industry
 When Thomas Golubic asked us if we knew about
something at breakfast, we all nodded
enthusiastically – because this class taught us.