If you are a lyricist or composer - a creating musician - you are entitled to the copyright to the musical works (songs) you create. If you have created a musical work with others, you share the copyright with them. You can enter into a so-called publishing agreement with a publisher. You here by transfer a share of the copyrights to your songs to the publisher, who works actively to register, protect and, to the best of its ability, disseminate and commercially exploit the copyrights for the benefit of you and the publisher.
Songwriters are not necessarily performing artists, not all lyricists record vocals and not all composers can produce, so the work also consists of providing material for singers, orchestras, etc. A publisher ensures that songwriters and composers get their profits when their music is exploited commercially. As a merit for their work, the publisher gets a cut from the exploitation of the musicians' copyrights, the so-called publishing rights.
Main Tasks
• Sales and pitching of music to labels or foreign publishers
• Presentation of music to performers, managers, A&Rs, films,TV, etc.
• Registration of the songwriter's works with Danish and foreign rights organizations and on going administration of rights
• Negotiate distribution of rights between several songwriters and publishers as well as licensing of works and collection of remuneration when the works are exploited commercially
• Sell material to other Danish or international artists
• Contribute to developing the songwriter's potential and career - i.a. by arranging collaborations with other songwriters (co-writes) and bootcamps where songwriters meet and work on material for a specific occasion
Types of Publishers
Majors: The biggest players. Major publishers are associated with the three major labels: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.
Major associated: Independent publishers who have agreements with majors to handle their licensing and rights administration.
Independent: Independent publishers handle their own licensing and administration without the influence of a major. They are also self-financed and independent from majors.
Writer-Publisher: It is not uncommon for songwriters to handle their own copyrights. If the workload requires it, they can hire someone to handle their song administration, but this person is an employee of the songwriter who gets paid for their work. They do not take a direct cut of the income generated by the music.