TAXI.com

Say I release a CD of my material. When I do so I become the publisher, record label, etc.

What happens with all the Taxi opportunities where they say they are a 50/50 split? Is this just a split of licensing revenues? Or does this include songwriter/publisher royalties as well? If so does the current publisher somehow assign the publishing rights over?

Chris

All of this and a lot more is covered in the book "All You Need To Know About The Music Business" by Donald S. Passman. Not a quickie answer, but I hope this helps you out. After reading the book, it cleared up a lot of misconceptions about the business and just plain bad information I'd heard before.

Even if you self-release a record you are not automatically the publisher. You own your half as a writer, but unless you are regestered as a publisher as well, there is 50% that is left unclaimed. This is the other 50 in a 50/50 split deal like they are talking about. I reccomend registering all of your works through ASCAP and doing so as a publisher and a songwriter, you are then able to do whatever you want with those rights (such as relinquish them to a different publisher).

And while some of the info is outdated in the referenced book (due to the rapidly changing dynamics of the business) it is a fabulous resource to learn from.

There are a million different deals, but if you're talking about a library deal where you're the original publisher, it's a co-publish, or sub-publish-you (as original publisher) assign the publisher's share to the sub-publisher-the library, in this instance. 50/50 usually means you keep the writer's share, the library takes the publisher's split. This can apply to either front end (synch license fees) or back end (royalties) or both.