Often during a musical collaboration between an artist or artists, and a producer, the issue of ownership share in the collaborative work (and accordingly how everyone would be paid in the event of royalties) will come up. In fact, it should come up if everyone is excited and hoping for success with the work. We all want to be credited properly and reap the rewards of a mega hit, and we all definitely don’t want to be caught unprepared if a song was a big success and had not been documented properly. This is where the problems come into play, and resolving these issues up front is not as complex as it seems.
Truthfully, hits don’t grow on trees these days, and it’s a very competitive marketplace in music, so the flip side is that getting too uptight about all this is also likely not a good use of one’s life energy as big hits with big royalties are not all that common. So, treat it as the best case scenario but it’s likely not worth losing any friends over the negotiations for a project that may only see modest interest. Covering the bases with basic agreements is enough to cover the potential upside and prevent conflicts in the future.
This guide tries to explain the concepts involved in getting these agreements in place at the start of a musical collaboration.
Copyrights – Publishing & Master
There are 2 separate copyrights in almost every song.
1. The song / composition
This is the underlying writing: lyrics, melody, chords, harmony, song structure.
This is the publishing side.
2. The sound recording / master
This is the actual recorded track that gets released to Spotify, Apple Music, etc.
This is the master side.
That distinction matters because different revenue streams pay different people. Working on a song does not necessarily mean a collaborator participates in both publishing and master depending on their contribution particularly if they are not necessarily involved in the actual songwriting process contributing melodies or composition. However, in a lot of small indie projects, these lines get kind of blurry as to a degree, everyone may end up working on everything. This is the part to be negotiated and make sure everyone is comfortable with the credit and role(s) attributed to them on the project.
Where people often get confused – Producers and Co-Writers Explained
A producer can be:
Just a record producer
They help shape sounds, arrangement, performance, recording, mixing direction, etc. That alone does not always make them a songwriter.
Or:
A co-writer/composer
If they created chords, topline melodies, musical hooks, basslines, harmony, or core musical ideas in the song, they usually are contributing to the composition.
It’s important to have open communication and agree upon the roles that everyone will be credited with (and ultimately paid for if royalties are collected).
Royalty Streams
Publishing / Composition Money
Performance royalties
Paid when the composition is publicly performed: radio, TV, live venues, streaming, etc. In the U.S., PROs like ASCAP or BMI collect performance royalties for songwriters and publishers; in Canada, SOCAN handles performance royalties and also administers reproduction rights. ASCAP also notes that performance royalties are split 50% writer share / 50% publisher share.
Mechanical royalties
Paid when the composition is reproduced, which today mostly means streams, downloads, and other reproductions of the song. In the U.S., The MLC collects eligible digital audio mechanical royalties from services like Spotify and Apple Music and pays songwriters, composers, lyricists, publishers, and administrators. The MLC notes these streaming mechanicals are not a simple fixed per-stream amount; they depend on service revenue, subscriber counts, sound recording payouts, and performance royalties.
Synchronization income
Paid when the composition is licensed into film, TV, ads, games, etc. ASCAP notes that sync fees are paid to the publisher and then shared with the songwriter according to contract. Synchronization rights are often treated separately from a basic agreement. These arrangements are usually unique agreements with the licensor and depend a lot on the intended use for the music and are not a one-size-fits-all arrangement the way that performance royalties and mechanical royalties are treated.
Master / Sound Recording Money
Master streaming/download revenue
The money paid for use of the actual recording, usually flowing to whoever owns the master, often a label or the independent artist/producer team via a distributor. This is separate from publishing/mechanical income. This separation is reflected in The MLC’s explanation that mechanical royalties are calculated in part alongside amounts paid to sound recording owners.
Digital performance royalties for the master
In the U.S., SoundExchange collects for certain non-interactive digital uses like Pandora radio-style streams and SiriusXM. SoundExchange says these are paid 45% to featured artists, 50% to the sound recording copyright owner, and 5% to non-featured artists’ fund(s).
Best practice
Before release, put in writing:
- who owns the composition
- who owns the master
- exact percentage splits
- who administers publishing
- who registers the song with the PRO / MRO / CMO
- who collects master income from the distributor
- whether the producer also gets any separate producer royalty or fee from the master