In today's day and age, there have never been more opportunities for a songwriter or music publisher. Songs are published by companies of various shapes and sizes, and they are as close as a Google search. On Google, conduct a search for music production libraries or something similar. Each library generally has its own niche. There are varying degrees of quality and licensing terms. Of course, there are humongous music publishers such as Universal Music Publishing.
A music publisher's job is to get music into all media. There are in an incredible number of places thanks to the Internet and digital age; you may get music into streaming online content, apps, and any audio-visual medium. You may also try to exploit the music (exploiting is a super nice term in music publishing because you find a home for the music) in films, TV, trailers, promos, commercials, radio, video games, and all the new media or those that will be available any time in the future.
Exploiting, in music publishing terms, is a positive term and not a negative one. Exploiting your music in media is good because it means it is coupled together with another medium, which is usually advertising and audio visuals. You can think of exploiting as finding a place for your music. Finding a place for your music isn't just good—it's awesome! As a music publisher, you earn an upfront fee when you license the music into media. Sometimes, a songwriter signed to a publishing agreement receives a portion of the upfront fee.
If this is a TV series or film that later makes it to broadcast television, you earn additional royalties directly from a separate entity in the music industry: performing rights society (PRS). This is paid out as a 50-50 split between the publishing owner and the songwriter. This is known as the publisher's share and the writer's share. When played in public places, it is known as a performance royalty. The broadcasting companies know who to pay because they will read cue sheets, a very important term in the performing rights industry. This also means you must register your music at a PRS. You will need to specify the ownership rights of both the publishing share and the writer's share. If the TV series has lots of reruns on broadcast TV, guess what? You get royalties every time it is played. If the TV series gets distributed to a different country and plays it on their station, you earn royalties, which are called foreign performing royalties.
The purpose of PRS is to collect money from public places such as radio, television, live venues, satellite radio, and elevator music. These types of companies are paying for the right to play songs in public. A PRS then directly pays 50 percent to the songwriter and 50 percent to the publisher. If a songwriter has a percentage of the publishing rights, they would collect that money directly from the publisher, after the publisher receives it from their PRS.
There are varying terms in music licensing, so you will want to hire a good entertainment attorney. You will want someone who has experience in your niche, not a slick-talking salesman who has cash but no real experience.
So, as a songwriter, the world is wide open. You can start your own publishing business or try to sign a publishing deal with a music library. If you have your own publishing business, you can then be the judge of the type of music you want to include in your catalog and what type of composers you will sign, if any, to agreements in order to exploit your whole catalog.
When peddling songs in any type of song transaction, there is usually a question of a non-exclusive track / agreement versus an exclusive song agreement. When you sell an exclusive track, the music cannot be sold again to a third party. This is also known as a buyout deal. An exclusive agreement is coveted much more in the industry. At high levels, a large company will want to have sole rights of a particular piece of music. This is so they can have the proper branding and control the distribution. Therefore, a publisher will sometimes want to have exclusive rights over your music in order to make it more desirable to ad agencies and other media. Sometimes, there is a fee paid to a songwriter from a music publisher in order to gain rights on an exclusive track. There are then back-end royalties, in varying amounts, depending on the agreement a songwriter signs with a publisher.
As a songwriter, you have to decide whether you want to keep your songs non-exclusive. This means you can have them in various libraries around the world. However, what if the company who wanted an exclusive track has many networks and connections in the industry? It is up to the songwriter how he or she wants to handle their music catalog. Sometimes, it is best to let music publishers do their job. You can always write new songs.
As a songwriter, you want to be honest and generally have original works. This means they don't infringe upon or include any music from a third-party source. Original works are works that serious companies will want to have, otherwise a lawsuit may ensue. If you do happen to sample something, it will usually have to be cleared or agreed upon by the master recording and songwriter of the song. Otherwise, you could be knee deep in legal battles.
As a songwriter, you may also earn revenue from mechanical fees. This is when a record company wants to use your song on a record. There is a 50-50 split between the publisher and the writer and various circumstances, legal verbiage, and rights. The mechanical rights means a record company wants to sell and distribute the song. If your song is part of an album that is distributed, a record company has to pay you for every copy sold. It is governed by a legal term called a Compulsory Mechanical License rate, which is handled by the US government yet again!