How many of you have your own publishing company?

[swhit]

Just wondering how many of you have set up a publishing company for you songs? And is it worth it?

How does this work if you get a deal with another publisher who wants to do a 50/50 split? Since you are the songwriter and the publisher, how do you work with them?

Do you just give them 50% of the publishing?

I'm really green on this topic and have a book on order to help me with understand but I just don't want to add songs to my publishing company (if I set one up) and then have problems later on. If I get a deal on one of my songs with another publisher who can actually so something with it, I don't want to burn any bridges.

[richmstudios]

Good question. I do have a publishing company setup with my PRO (for an additional annual fee). I assume that if another publisher picks up on a track and wants to split the publishing I would go ahead and modify the current PRO registration to reflect that (I'm w/ASCAP and they allow changes to already-submitted registrations online). I've not had any tracks that require I do this yet so I'm not 100% sure how this would all work out actually.

If somebody w/experience on this topic would chime in it would be helpful.

[mazz]

I set up a publishing company with ASCAP, which, unlike BMI (as I understand), you need to have if you are an ASCAP member.

One publisher I work with has an interesting deal where I needed to have a publishing company in order to participate in his library. I'm also in a situation where I retain my copyrights and can register those pieces with my own publishing company. I haven't registered any of those yet, I will wait until I get a deal on one or more of them myself.

I personally think it's a good idea to have one for situations that may arise where you need it, but I don't register anything of my own unless I'm intending on keeping the publishing side for myself. (see above) I think registering it in your publishing company and then signing the publishing to another publisher creates more work than is necessary because someone has to re-assign the publishing at that point. Because of the time lag from a placement to payment, there will be time to register a piece after it gets placed if you do the placement yourself. I would just wait until that happens.

My 2c.

Mazz

[BruceBrown]

I say yes. I have some experience in this matter.
I moved to Nash in 1980. I was writing songs with friends and someone mentioned I should open my own pub. company. I did with BMI. Cost me $25.00
Fast forward 14 years. I cowrote a song with Travis Tritt. I kept my half of the publishing. The song went #1. I literally doubled my money. If someone else had had the pub. rights I would have received only my writer share. Funny story. I got my first royalty check from Warner Bros. It was a GOOD one. A couple days later I got another one for the same amount. Me being green, I called BMI and told them "I think you've made a mistake. You sent me two checks" They said no Mr Brown the first is your writer share and the second is your pub. share. DOUBLE !!!
Keep your copyrights if at all possible. Don't believe me? Ask John Fogerty or Chuck Berry.
Hope this helps.
Merry Christmas
Bruce

[andygabrys]

Yes, although BMI has a weird way of giving you extra writers share to account for the publisher share, this is your business. I would set up a publishing company.

I set up a publishing side for my BMI persona several years ago. It has already paid for itself many times (it was $150) over because I have written custom music for films and ads where I was able to retain publishers share.

[andygabrys]

Yes, although BMI has a weird way of giving you extra writers share to account for the publisher share, this is your business. I would set up a publishing company.

I set up a publishing side for my BMI persona several years ago. It has already paid for itself many times (it was $150) over because I have written custom music for films and ads where I was able to retain publishers share.

[SANDPEARL]

I set up my own publishing company when I first got serious about licensing my music (2009) but it only came in handy recently by accident..I had a track with a library (nonexclusive deal) and after a period with no activity they released that particular track from the library...a music supervisor must have had the song off to the side and when they went to use it my PRO (ASCAP) ended up paying me writers and publishers share of the royalties...I score some indie films and hope to do some more direct licensing so it was a wise investment ($35.00) - I'm glad I did it and see it coming in handy in the future..

[swhit]

Thanks everyone for the info.
and Merry Christmas!

[cameron]

You pretty much have to have one in some cases, even if it's nothing more that registering a name with your PRO. In my case, one of the big libraries I work with won't sign your song until it's registered with the PRO, but the PRO (SESAC) requires you to put in the publisher's name when you register it. I tried putting myself as the publisher, but that didn't work because I wasn't registered with them as a publisher, only a songwriter. The PRO rep suggested I create my own publishing company. I did and its been smooth sailing ever since. I can always reassign it to another publisher later if I need to.

Fortunately, being a publisher doesn't really require much more than registering the name with a PRO. There might be tax reasons later to set it up as a separate business with its own Federal Tax ID, but that's something you can worry about down the road if you ever need to.

[coachdebra]

You don't need to set up a Federal tax ID, unless you're employing people, creating a partnership or registering as a corporation. Just register the publisher with your PRO. If you want to set up a separate checking account to receive checks in the publisher's name, go to your city or county clerk (which will depend on where you live) and register a dba (doing business as). Then take that certificate to the bank and open a checking account. It will probably cost you $50-100 for the whole thing. Again depending on where you live. When I registered in NJ, it was county and cost me $35. California, some places - county, others city. In Concord, I had to pay my taxes in advance - so, $30 to register and another $45 for city taxes. Which I then took as a deduction on State and Federal. Some cities require you have a notary public stamp - that'll probably cost another $10. Call your county or city court clerk and they'll be able to tell you what you need.

And none of this is necessary to file with your PRO - only if you want to receive payments made out to the Publisher's name.