Music Publishers

Music publishers simply refers to publishers of popular music. What this means is that the music publisher deals in the marketing and commercial exploitation of songs and music catalogs. It is important to note that the term music publisher first referred to publishers of sheet music and the term is still used to refer to those people today as sheet music is still important for many reasons. However, this article is going to deal with the former type of music publisher.

The main job of a music publisher is finding artists to record songs that are written by their clients. The intent is to create hit records that will recieve large numbers of sales and a large amount of air time. Of course, a music publisher has many other duties as well. These include promoting songs, supervising the payment of publishing royalties, placing songs in various media, and handling copyright registration.

When it comes to royalties, they are traditionally split fifty/fifty between the music producer and the songwriter(s). However, sometimes other arrangements are made. These are often due to the different costs that a music producer must pay for the services that are provided to the song writers in order to get the song out to the public.

Sometimes music publishers work as other industry professionals. They may be record producers or artist managers. By working more than one job, they are usually able to make a living without doing a job outside of the music industry.

Modern music publishers came on the scene with the invention of the gramophone in 1877. At first, popular music was slow to take advantage of the new technology that was available. In 1910, 75% of all records sold were recordings of classical music.

After the first talkie movie, "The Jazz Singer," in 1927, music was needed for movies. This created the need for songwriters to have people who worked as music publishers. As the technology was created for different formats of music, the need for music publishers increased.

However, with the invention of the Internet, it became easier for musician to work on their own. Songwriters did not need music publishers as much any longer. Still, songwriters and musicians who would rather focus on the music than on the business aspects of the industry, do need music publishers.

Many music publishers can be found on the Internet. Two good places to look are the National Music Publishers Association or NMPA (http://www.nmpa.org/home/index.asp) and the Music Publishers Association of the United States (http://www.mpa.org/).

One word of caution: Not all music publishers are completely honest. These dishonest music publishers are known as songsharks. Songsharks charge songwriters and artists for their services rather than making money by sharing royalties. They will charge for both real and fake services. Real services are demo recording and musical arrangement. Fake services are auditions and review fees.

If you are interested in becoming a music publisher, it is a good idea to get a business degree. Music publishers do not have to be musicians. They just need to know the business aspect of working with others. Of course, getting a minor of some type in music is also a good option. That way some things about music will be known. Of course, it is also great to try to get an internship in the music publishing business. Just do not expect to be paid for this internship. It is great to be able to get a paid internship, but it is unlikely when starting out fresh.