As a songwriter or composer, your objective is to make music and share it with the world, and to do that, you need to be on all music streaming platforms.
Let’s say you recorded your first EP independently. Now what? First, you must distribute your music and then manage your rights and royalties.
There’s so much to learn about distribution, publishing, copyrights, and royalties. It can be daunting at times, so here’s an article to help you with all this and make things clearer.
What is music publishing?
Let’s start with the basics. Music publishing is the act of owning, managing, exploiting, and protecting the rights of intellectual property in music, ensuring the songwriter and composer of a song gets paid for their music when it’s used for commercial purposes.
This management can be done by songwriters or a music publishing company. Anyone from songwriters, composers, lyricists, or beatmakers should protect their rights through music publishing.
To understand this further, let’s talk about how this system came to be. In the early days, streaming platforms, digital releases, and even physical recordings did not exist. The way of sharing music was through sheets of music the composer sold for another artist to perform. They “published” their piece, and people bought it. With the time and recordings available today, music publishing has become more than just selling your music.
Publishers now also promote your music and look for opportunities to get your music licensed for movies, TV shows, videogames, and advertisements and protect your copyrights.
There are two types of copyrights when talking about music:
- The sound recording or master is the actual recording of your music. A record label usually manages the master rights.
- The composition is the melody and lyrics of that song. A music publishing company usually handles these royalties.
What is a music publishing company?
A publishing company is in the business of helping songwriters manage their compositions, ensuring songwriters get paid for the use of their music, and helping with song registration. Their deals involve services like licensing, collecting royalties, and getting your music synced with TV, films, and other media. Some of the royalties a music publisher collects are performing royalties, mechanical royalties, and sync royalties.
Depending on the music publishing company, there are three common types of publishing deals, which are:
- Full publishing deal: the music publishing company wholly owns the music rights.
- Co-publishing deal: publisher and author share equal ownership of the music.
- Administration deal: the author keeps 100% of copyrights for their music, while the publishing company only provides specific publishing services.
Today, artists can act as their music publishers and choose a music publishing administrator to help them with all the administrative work so they can focus on writing songs. Others prefer the traditional deal with a music publishing company. That’s why so many companies offer only administrative deals so that artists can keep 100% of ownership.
I tried to keep that short to focus on getting you the best music publishing companies. I divided the list into major, independent, and administrative companies so you can go directly to the section you want.
Major music publishing companies
Sony Music Publishing
One of the biggest music publishers, Sony Music Publishing, is home to the world’s best songwriters, including The Beatles, Queen, Michael Jackson, and the Rolling Stones. With over 30 offices worldwide, Sony provides world-class administration, synchronization, and music production services, ensuring fair compensation for songwriters.
Sony Music Publishing is the leader in full-service management of rights from film and television, working with global groups like 20th Century Studios, CBS Television Network, Apple, Discovery, and Fox Entertainment, among many others.
Having Sony Music Publishing as your publisher means you’re a songwriter working with big names in the industry. It’s not an easy task to get a deal with them, and you’ll have to do all the previous work of growing your fanbase, releasing and self-publishing, or through independent music publishing companies.
Pros
- Your music will be in the best albums, films, and commercials.
- Opportunity to co-write with best-in-class songwriters.
Cons
- They do not accept unsolicited demos.
- You’ll have to work hard to get their attention.
Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a leading music publishing company and a global family of renowned songwriters. UMPG catalogue represents every genre, including ABBA, Adele, Coldplay, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Bee Gees, and many more.
The UMPG is the publisher of choice for sync licensing and administration services for companies like Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount, Amazon, and Dreamworks, among others.
Universal Music Publishing Group is one of the three major music publishing companies, along with Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music.
Pros
- Get to work with a leading music publishing company known worldwide.
- Access to their expertise and contacts in the music industry.
Cons
- They don’t take unsolicited submissions.
- You’ll need to work your way to them.
Warner Chappell Music
Warner Chappel Music is the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group. They have offices in more than 20 countries and are the home of songwriters from a wide range of genres. They publish and administrate for hitmakers like Celeste, Justin Tranter, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and icons like Duran Duran, George Michael, Madonna, and many more.
Warner Chappell Music takes a personalized approach to songwriting development and pitching, providing expertise across a vast creative service and the most innovative opportunities for songwriters and copyright holders.
You can contact them via their webpage to apply and get represented by them.
Pros
- Benefit from the publishing services of a major music publisher.
Cons
- You need to have over-the-top music writing skills for them to reach you.
Independent music publishing companies
Kobalt
Kobalt is the leading independent music publishing company founded to make the music industry fairer and more rewarding for music writers and composers. They offer unmatched technology for royalties collection, 100% ownership of your work, control over your future releases, and real-time transparency of your income.
Publishing for Beck, The Chicks, Foo Fighters, Finneas, Karol G, Lorde and Marshmello, and more, Kobalt currently represents more than 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the U.S. and the U.K.
Kobalt music will pitch your music to brands worldwide, such as ABC, Apple, Disney, Google, Ford, and Columbia Pictures, among others.
If you’re looking for a well-established publishing company but are not ready to hit the major companies yet, Kobalt is a great option. They don’t have a submission form, but their contact information is available, so it’s worth trying.
Pros
- Offer straightforward rights collection and management.
- Benefit from an established music publishing company.
- Work with renowned artists.
Cons
- Not open to submissions.
IndieFlow
IndieFlow is relatively new in the business but offers impressive tools to help artists release their music and collect their royalties. As part of their all-in-one service for artists, they provide registration with the PRO, unlimited admin, and 100% of the royalties go to the artists.
The great thing about IndieFlow is that its services, aside from music publishing, cover every aspect of an artist’s career, from project management to social media promotion and mentoring. It’s a platform for those looking for a comprehensive service for their creative career; however, if you’re just looking for a music publisher, you might find IndieFlow overwhelming (and a bit pricey).
Pros
- Great all-in-one solution for music distribution, social media promotion and royalty collection
- 100% revenues to the artist
- Created with the indie artist in mind
Cons
- There are better and cheaper options if you’re just looking for a royalty collection service
Strengholt Music Group
Stengholt Music Group is a Dutch independent music publishing company that offers music services to artists, songwriters, and composers. They manage their music rights to be used on singles, compilations, movies, commercials, TV shows, video games, mobile platforms, and online content.
Their services include: licensing, song pitching to labels and A&R managers, an administration system to take care of copyrights registration and income tracking for national and foreign royalties, promotion and marketing, career planning, and song camps.
They’ve helped artists get their music in Google Pixel, Coca-Cola, and Samsung campaigns, Netflix commercials, and the video game FIFA 20.
To pitch them, go to their contact page and fill out the form. You’ll be requested to upload your music file and your contact info.
Pros
- Work with an established music publishing company.
- Easy submission form.
Cons
- It can take long for them to get back to you, if they ever will.
Pen Music Group
Pen Music Group focuses on improving the financial lives of the represented talents, providing a dedicated team to promote and protect their music rights.
Their songs have been released on albums by The Black Eyed Peas, Kendrick Lamar, Christina Aguilera, Jason Mraz, and Miley Cyrus, among others. They also help sync songwriters with HBO, CW, Netflix, and Hulu TV shows.
Their services include song registration, royalty tracking, pitching, co-writing opportunities, and rights management.
Pen Music Group accepts music submissions through their contact page, requiring your contact info and a streaming link to your music from your artist’s website or streaming platforms like SoundCloud, Spotify, and similar.
Pros
- Easy submission form.
- Work with worldwide-known artists.
Cons
- They don’t provide much info on their contracts, so you’ll need to get in touch with them to get an idea of how they operate.
Bailer Music Publishing
Founded by Ben Bailer, a former BMG employee, Bailer Music Publishing offers solutions to songwriters such as administration and sync to advertisers, TV, and film. Bailer Music looks for artists from all around the globe and ensures a broad music royalty collection for them.
Ben works with songwriters signed to Bailer Music and actively pitches songs to supervisors and other professionals in the business. He also manages songwriting sessions and songwriting camps for their signed authors to comply with the industry standards.
Last year, Bailer Music entered the world of electronic music by participating in the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), further expanding the list of genres they focus on and offering new opportunities for groundbreaking producers working in the fields of EDM and beyond.
They take music submissions in MP3 format only on Google Drive or SoundCloud.
Pros
- Working together with Ben Bailer.
- Royalty collection.
- Sync licensing.
Cons
- None, as far as I can see.
Music publishing administrator companies
Wixen Music
Wixen Music is a music publishing company that offers administration services with licensing, royalty collection, creative resources like pitching, copyright protection, and worldwide representation. Wixen has represented artists such as The Doors, The Black Keys, and Missy Elliot.
Wixen Music prioritizes copyright protection, allowing its clients to maintain ownership of their work. Wixen’s team actively searches for music supervisors and industry professionals to create opportunities for their clients. The interest has always been to maximize songwriters’ earnings.
Wixen Music works on a one-year term that can be terminated by either party. They only take a 10% administrative fee of all royalties they collect.
You can submit your music through the becoming a client form. Be sure to have your website and streaming links in order before contacting them.
Pros
- Easy to submit your music.
- Keep 100% ownership of your songs.
- 10-90 deal.
Cons
- Does not offer as many sync opportunities as a publishing company.
Ditto Music Publishing
Ditto Music is a music distributor and label services company spreading their client’s music with the biggest music platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, TikTok, Deezer, and many more. By upgrading your account to Ditto Music Publishing, they’ll help you register your songs, track, collect and pay all royalties, keeping full copyright and ownership of your music.
Ditto Music works with companies like Netflix, HBO, Prime Video, and BBC to get your music in TV shows, films, and other media. They’ll take 10% of music publishing royalties and 20% from sync placements.
You’ll need a Ditto Music subscription to access Ditto Music Publishing, as they can only collect and pay publishing royalties for music released through Ditto Music.
Pros
- It’s an all-in-one distributor and publishing company.
Cons
- You will need a Ditto subscription to access their publishing services.
- You can only claim Publishing royalties for music released through Ditto.
Music Gateway
Music Gateway is a distributor, publishing, and promoting online service for artists at any step of their career where you keep 100% of your royalties.
By signing one of their plans, you get free access to their publishing services, including publishing admin, worldwide collection, back payments, registering past and present live performances, and YouTube monetization.
You can set up your account for free the first month and then $7.50 after the trial period. Depending on your chosen plan, you can get up to 80% on sync revenues and 0% commissions.
Pros
- Royalty collections.
- Easy to set up.
Cons
- Monthly subscription.
- Best features behind a paywall.
Final thoughts
In today’s digital age, it’s not impossible to get a publishing deal or administrator to get your royalties and sync licensing in order. Many publishing companies work with independent artists, songwriters, and music producers, offering fair deals and great opportunities.
Depending on the stage you’re at in your career, you can choose how to navigate in the music industry. If you decide to go for a major or independent publishing company, read and learn all about the different types of deals and read the contract thoroughly before you sign! The same goes for the publishing administrators. Ask them questions if necessary since most offer customer support.
Take your time to read about each company on this list and beyond. One of them might be the partner you need to upgrade your creative career.
