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To anyone willing to share some experience or advice. I've just got my 1st song being put on hold by a country artist. Never having been published before I'm a little worried about handling the "legal stuff" if the song gets picked up for the CD. I've read Don Passman's book, but as someone just starting out, is it customary to be offered less than what is considered "industry standard" rates? And if so, should my attitude be just to get the cut for exposure sake and not worry about the ramifications of taking a lesser rate? As of now nothing has been offered but I'd like to be prepared.

Congrats on the hold. First and foremost get a music attorney to review any agreement you get. As for "industry standard rate" I don't think any exist. If you do get the song cut but don't see anything upfront, you can always count on performance royalties. But again, don't try to go at this alone without a good music lawyer to tell you your options.

Quote:As for "industry standard rate" I don't think any exist. I think he might be talking about the statutory mechanical royalty rate...that does exist. I don't know what the practice in Nashville is, but in the pop market the reduced rate usually only comes in effect when it's a "controlled composition", meaning a song written by the artist.Definitely don't sign anything without a qualified entertainment attorney's assistance, if it comes to that.Congratulations and best of luck!matto

Thanks to both of you for your response. Doing research right now to secure an attorney. Don't know why, but didn't think of it. Still pretty giddy and excited at this point. Feeling better now...and yes the mechanical royalty rate is what I was referring to.

I've had about 80 cuts in the Contemporary Christian market. I don't think you need to worry too much about being asked to take something less than the standard rate. About the only time the statutory copyright rate is lessened is when a song is going on some sort of compilation project like '100 hits of the 90's" or something like that. I only had it happen to me once, and it was for a 2-CD project.There are three places royalties will come from on your song:1) Mechanical royalties (CD, Internet, other audio product sales)2) Print royalties (if your song ends up in a music book of some sort, or the words are printed in something)3) Performance royalties (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) for radio, TV, concert hall, etc. usages.For mechanical royalties you can expect to get whatever the U.S. copyright office has mandated as the current rate (these rates change about every other year - you can probably find it on line). I think the going rate these days is around 9 cents per sale. This typically gets split evenly between the publisher and the writer. More on that below.For print royalties, a standard rate is 10% of the wholesale price, pro-rated by the number of songs in the book.Performance royalties depend on which performance company you choose to be affiliated with. I don't know much about BMI or SESAC. I'm an ASCAP member. ASCAP has a point system that changes based on a fairly complicated (but very fair) formula. These royalties CANNOT be tampered with by whoever you sign your song over to. These come directly to you from the performance rights company and are always split evenly between the publisher and writer.I would expect that whoever cuts this song will probably want you to sign your publishing over to them. At this point in your career that is probably a smart move. Though it may seem nice if you could keep the publishing share as well, there are good reasons to sign over the publishing portion:1) You don't want the job of keeping track of all the different ways your song is being used and who owes royalties and all that. This is where a publisher earns his keep. This is called the "administration" of copyrights. In the end you would probalby miss out on more money than you would keep if you were to try to administrate your own publishing.2) Whoever did the leg-work of getting your song heard and put on the CD has done the work of a publisher and is worthy of being paid for that task. 3) You want to develop a writer/publisher relationship that will open more doors for you in the future.Your okay contacting a lawyer and all, but I wouldn't go to too much expense until you get something to sign.Something to expect - It will take nearly a year to receive any royalties on your song. Royalties generally come in quarterly statements. Here's the way that works for mechanical and print:1) record company puts product in stores (or online) - 1st quarter after song is released2) retailer pays record company - 2nd quarter3) record company pays publisher - 3rd quarter4) Publisher pays writer - 4th quarterWith ASCAP you get paid about 9 months after a surveyed usage.Sobering story - My day job was working in a warehouse filling orders and sending out the very CD that had my #1 CCM radio song on it (my first cut ever). Before I saw my first check, I even had to resort to pawning a couple of my instruments just to pay the rent. Very humbling reality. The song seemed like a golden oldie by the time I got my first check.

Bigdrisk,Thank you so much for taking the time to respond with the detail. I can't tell you how much that means to me to have someone with your experience to draw from. I was going to wait until I really needed an attorney, right now just on hold, but researching so that I will be prepared. Your insight has been extremely helpful. Bummer about pawning your stuff, but good to know the timetable if anything happens.Randy