Publishing deal

Publishing deals sit on a spectrum, and the useful question is always the same two: how much of the copyright is being transferred, and for how long.

At one end is administration. The writer keeps ownership entirely. The administrator registers the works, collects the income, and takes a percentage as a fee, typically for a short term with the catalogue reverting at the end. There is often no advance, or a small one.

In the middle sits the co-publishing deal, the most common structure for a signed writer. The writer keeps the writer's share and assigns part of the publisher's share — commonly half of it — so the writer ends up retaining around three quarters of the total income while the publisher takes the rest in exchange for an advance and active work on the catalogue.

At the far end is a full publishing or exclusive songwriter agreement, in which the writer assigns the entire publisher's share, and often commits future compositions for the term, in exchange for a larger advance and a salary-like structure. The writer's share is still paid to the writer; it is the publisher's half that moves.

Whatever the shape, four terms decide what actually happens. The advance is recoupable from the writer's earnings. The term is usually defined by a delivery commitment — a minimum number of songs or a share of songs commercially released — rather than purely by calendar time. The retention period determines how long the publisher keeps collecting after the term ends, which can run for years or, in older agreements, for the life of copyright. And the reversion provisions decide what comes back and when.

Separately from contract, US law gives authors a statutory right to terminate a grant after a defined period, which cannot be signed away in advance.