Publishing is the composition: the melody, the lyrics, and the musical ideas that make the song. It is a different copyright from the recording. Artists, producers, songwriters, and other collaborators should agree who owns that song before it is released. This guide is a starting point for that conversation.
Not a contract, and not legal advice. U.S. copyright law does not assign a percentage to a role. The split is whatever the writers agree to, as long as the shares total 100%. Customs below are common in independent sessions. They are not rules, and other countries handle co-writers differently.
Someone who contributed original expression to the song, and who intended that contribution to be part of one work with the others:
These people can still get paid. Pay them from the master (the recording), not from the composition:
If you never write it down, you do not get a custom deal by default. BMI’s writer agreement pays co-writers in equal shares by headcount unless you send a different written division. ASCAP will not invent the split for you. Mismatched registrations hold the money. Under U.S. copyright law, the authors of a joint work co-own the song.
Pick the session that matches yours, then rename people and change what they did. The numbers update as a proposal you can take into the room.
| Who | Writer’s share | Publisher’s share | Of $1,000 performance |
|---|
The money column assumes each party self-publishes, so they keep both halves. A traditional publisher is paid the publisher’s share for the writer they signed. Your PRO pays the writer’s share of performance royalties directly. A publishing administrator collects the publisher’s share.
Equal split among everyone in the writing session. In Nashville this is often called “one word, one third”: people in the room share the song evenly, even when one person wrote more of the lyric. Use it when that is the deal you want.
Equal shares are a choice some bands make so credit does not become a fight. A member who did not write can come off this split and get paid from the master instead.
In hip-hop, and in a lot of pop, the beat is treated as half the composition. Lyricists and topliners split the other half. A producer who also recorded the song can still negotiate a fee and master points on top of this. Those points are not part of publishing.
The only writers here made the beat. They own the composition unless someone else wrote lyrics or melody. A vocal that was written by the beat maker is a performance, so it stays off the publishing split.
Nobody is marked as the beat maker, so the writers split the song evenly. Add the beat maker if the instrumental is part of the composition.
A common beat-store starting point is 50/50 when the producer made the beat and the artist wrote the vocals, and each side keeps its own publisher’s share. Read the actual license. BeatStars describes a usual 50/50 when the producer is the only beat maker. Individual contracts differ.
Some beat licenses give the producer 50% of the writer’s share and 100% of the publisher’s share. On U.S. performance royalties that is about 75% to the producer and 25% to the artist, because the publisher’s half of the money all goes one way. The artist’s PRO can still pay the writer’s share. There is no publisher’s share left for the artist to register with an administrator.
The original song’s share is taken first, from both the writer’s share and the publisher’s share. The license applies only to what remains.
Each percentage is that person’s share of the song, and the same number is used for the writer’s share and the publisher’s share. This is the usual self-published deal.
These percentages do not total 100% once any sample share is included. Change the numbers until they do. Societies will not register a song that does not add up.
A sample uses the old recording and the old composition, so both copyrights need permission. An interpolation re-records the part, so you clear the composition only. Either way, the original writers’ share is negotiated. There is no statutory rate. Take it off the top, then split what remains. Do not release while that clearance is still open.
Negotiate a feature fee or a share of the master. Singing or rapping a part someone else wrote is not a publishing share.
Negotiate a fee and master points, separate from this split. On an indie release a common range is about 15% to 25% of net recording income after costs. On a major-label royalty, producers often get about 3 to 5 points from the artist’s royalty, and more for a well-known name. More money up front usually means fewer points later. If there is no budget, some producers take a larger share of the master instead of a fee. That is still not publishing.
A fee is the usual deal. A point on the master is sometimes offered. Engineering and mixing are not publishing.
A fee is the usual deal. In the U.S., non-featured performers are paid through a statutory digital-performance fund (about 5% of that royalty), not through publishing. Some artists also share master income with players after costs are recouped.
Every released track has two copyrights. Negotiate them on two documents.
Producer points come out of the master. They do not create a writer’s share. If the same person wrote and produced, give them a publishing line and a separate master line. Say both numbers out loud. A 50% publishing share plus 4 master points is more than 50% of the record.
Agree one number first: each writer’s percentage of the song. Those percentages total 100%. Performance royalties are then divided into a writer’s share and a publisher’s share. If you own 40% of the song and you self-publish, you are owed 40% of each half.
A handshake does not tell a society who to pay. If the registrations disagree, the money waits. Put this on a split sheet and have everyone sign it before the song is online:
Each writer registers the song with their own PRO, using the same percentages. More on why a verbal 50/50 is not enough: the handshake does not get paid.
Once the split is signed, register those exact shares. Rightstune collects the publisher’s share for the writers who sign up. Your PRO still pays your writer’s share.
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