What do publishers do?
Music Publishers play an important role in the career of a
musician. They are
responsible for finding new ways to use an artist's music,
issuing 3rd party licences for the copyright and then collecting
the income. The extent that your publisher does these things for
you, however, will depend on the legal agreement that you have in
place. The most basic deal, referred to in media law as an
"administration deal", usually involves licensing (authorising) the
publisher to register the copyright in an artist's songs with the
relevant collection societies (PRS, PPL etc) and to collect income
from any use of the music. At the other end of the spectrum is what
media solicitors call an "exclusive publishing agreement", whereby
you assign (give away) the copyright in your songs to the
publisher. In return for this exclusivity and control, the
publisher should be responsible for seeking all opportunities to
make use of your music.
Using Music Law as a shield - Restraint of trade
Once you have assigned your musical copyright to another person,
you lose the authority to do certain things with your music without
your publisher's say-so. Most notably, this includes the ability to
copy your music, sell it, or perform it in public without the
publisher's consent. It doesn't take a genius (or a media lawyer)
to recognise that if you give away the rights to use your music to
your publisher, then your ability to earn a living is completely in
their hands. If your publisher owns the copyright in your music and
isn't doing anything with it then you have a problem. Luckily the
law recognises that this is an unreasonable restraint of a person's
trade and is unacceptable.
Music Law case-study - The Stone Roses
In the early 90s, the Stone Roses found themselves in a
situation where their trade was being unreasonably restrained when
they signed up to a joint publishing and record deal. The band was
made to assign all copyright but there was very little obligation
for the publisher to actually use it. Even worse, the publisher was
only obliged to return the copyright to the band if it hadn't made
use of it within 5 years. Of course this is an extreme example and
restraints are not always so blatant, but artists should be on the
lookout for unfair music or publishing contract terms.
Using Media Law to your advantage - what to do
If you suspect that you are getting a poor deal from your
publishing contract then it is always a good idea to seek the
advice of a media solicitor. Do bear in mind, however, that
prevention is much cheaper and quicker than cure when it comes to
contracts. It is also not advisable to rely on restraint of trade
as a 'get out of jail free card'. If you sign up to a contract that
you believe is unfair, but in which you see some initial benefit,
it is likely that you will be considered to have agreed to the
restrictions and be tied to the contract. As always, the moral of
the story is to get some legal advice from a media lawyer before
signing any agreement. In fact, most publishing agreements carry a
health warning to seek the advice of an independent solicitor
before signing, so not doing so puts you on the back foot if things
turn nasty.