Do I Need A Professional Publisher?

One of the most frequently asked questions is: "Do I really need a professional publisher"? And the second most frequently asked question is: "What does a music publisher do"? Being a music publisher, you'd expect me to know, and I do for the most part. You see, the landscape is forever changing in the music business and new ideas flourish daily requiring sometimes large and sometimes small changes in the way we conduct business.

Something you may not know as a songwriter is that a professional music publisher is your greatest, and your usually most untapped resource, who's ready to take your songs to the earning level by placing them somewhere where they can earn money for you. That's pretty much the short version of what a music publisher does for songwriters.

You may still be wondering why songwriters, and their heirs by the way, should deal with music publishers at all? Let's take a more detailed look at what a music publisher does for you.

Basically, a music publisher owns or administers copyrights in songs. The publisher professionally licenses them to companies and other industry entities that use music, such as advertisers, record labels, radio stations, film makers, TV shows, and artist. The publisher then collects the license fee. The licensing fee is what most of us refer to as being the royalties. The royalty split is where the publisher earns the publishers cut and pays the rest to the songwriters or their heirs.

Let's look at it this way. Every song is divided into a writer share and a publisher share. Further, if you alone have written the entire song, the entire writer's share belongs solely to you. If you had help writing the song, say by on other songwriter, it's important that you realize that it's your writer share that gets split in a predetermined agreement between the two of you. Your publisher still owns the entire publisher's share unless your publisher has struck a co-publishing deal with another entity based on a predetermined agreement your publisher has struck with them.

Understand and don't be surprised that, by virtue of what a publisher does for a songwriter, the music publisher must control the song including the words and music. The "recordings" of a song are generally owned by the recording artists and or their record labels. This doesn't mean the song is no longer your song. Quite the contrary. It simply means the music publisher has the required rights by contract to get your song to the right places so you make money, and they must be able to do this in an unencumbered way.

A publisher should have contacts and the required experience which allows him or her to promote your songs to as many licensees as possible and negotiate good terms for you and the songs use. Most publishers subscribe to specialized industry publications and services that give them an early heads up if and when someone is looking for music for a particular recording artist, film TV show or album project, for example. A good publisher will also stay on top of industry developments and actively seek out new sources of income. It's easy to understand that without access to industry contacts, publications, and having the required experience, an independent songwriter may be unable to place music with licensees at favorable terms. This is beginning to make sense as to why you need a professional publisher isn't it?

At this time there are many large music publishers who control many thousands of songs. In fact so many thousands of songs that the employees of the company can't possibly be intimately familiar with each and every one of them. The big publishing companies usually end up promoting only their newest or most well known songs. Smaller companies for the most part still actively promote a larger percentage of their whole catalogs by talking directly with record label executives to get new versions recorded and talking to music supervisors to get the songs into films, TV shows, and advertisements. Licensing newer uses like ring tones, video games, and digital downloads are more ways your publisher will find places to place your songs to make you money. In the the old days, printed sheet music was the largest source of income for songwriters and publishers. It is now generally the smallest but can still be an important source of revenue for some works. For example, those written specifically for use in music classes.

Some of the various forms of income from licenses include but aren't necessarily limited to:

MECHANICAL LICENSE INCOME: Income from CD sales, digital downloads and other sales from physical product inclusive of the song.

PERFORMANCE LICENSE INCOME: Income collected through ASCAP, BMI and SESAC for any public performance of the song on the television, radio, a web site or in a sports arena, a hotel lobby, an elevator, or even a shopping mall, just to name a few.

SYNCHRONIZATION LICENSE INCOME: For any use of music used “in synchronization” with a moving picture as in Film or a TV show.

OTHER INCOME: This includes “reproduction” rights which includes the right to print sheet music or lyrics from a song. It also includes everything from uses in greeting cards to toys to karaoke machines.

All of these licenses and royalties require that the publisher create, receive and review a lot of paperwork consisting of various thing like contracts, forms, and royalty statements. Some are simple and some are complex. All of these instruments must be precise and with no mistakes which can main a real mess when it comes to who gets what.

After the music publisher negotiates a license, he collects the fee from the licensee, keeps the publisher's share (usually 50%), and forwards the rest to the songwriter or their heir at the end of each royalty period, (usually every six months). Collecting royalties from a large number of licensees and forwarding the correct percentages to the correct writers and their heirs can be labor and paperwork intensive. Many publishers use specialized royalty processing software to do the calculations. A good publisher will have music lawyers as well as other companies work for them who specialize in collecting royalties owed to the publisher and to you, the songwriter.

Another reason to have a professional publisher work for you is that many potential licensees don't want to deal with individual songwriters. For example, if you called up a cell phone service provider and told them you just wrote a song and would like to make it available as a ring tone, I doubtful they'd be interested. For the most part, cell phone companies license catalogs of songs, from publishers, in order to provide ring tone choices for their customers. This brings up another point. Can you imagine how many songs on all kinds of media a record exec would receive daily if they opened the flood gates? This is why record companies and artist use professional publishers to find songs for their projects. The professional industry depends on publishers to find the proverbial "needle in a hay stack", alleviating them from the impossible task of screening so many songs.

In summary, the above is just a few of the many reasons you'll want to work with a professional publisher to have your songs exploited to the industry. Our industry-only portal is an exceptional way to maximize your exposure to a larger percentage of the industry decision makers. Every song and songwriter is uniquely different, and your and your heirs situations are uniquely different as well. This is why we give you a fair and level playing field with out company. After all, it's all about the song, and you of course. ...RETURN

 

 





















































Our Songwriter Success Group

Not just another songwriter association that promises the moon but turns out to be just another site collecting money from membership. The Songwriter Success Group is actually a group of over 400 real live songwriters doing what they love to do best, and that's writing songs! Having launched in January of 2011, we already have over 400 members who love the craft of songwriting and who are enjoying having the support of our publishing company. YourTuneSpace.com is quickly becoming the home for songwriters of all genres who not only appreciate community, but also the fair and level playing field we have in place. We welcome songwriters of any skill level join our growing family of successful songwriters. And I think you'll be glad you did! ...RETURN

 

































































Audio Watermark

Intellectual property is the valuable commodity every songwriter owns the moment they write a song. Protecting this valuable intellectual property is monumental is something your publisher should take seriously at every juncture. To facilitate this, we keep our online catalogue closed and accessible only to industry decision makers. But we still go one step farther when it comes to protecting your song. The mp3 player we've built that quickly loads and players your available new music is protected from download through coding used in the mp3 player design. The audio watermark is a proprietary feature we put on each song that keeps the song from being played back should the listener attempt to record the song using some other audio recording device.

 

 










































Does It Cost To Send Us A Song To Consider?

Absolutely not! One thing you need to know about our company is we are not a middle-man like so many of the sites you you entrust your hard earned money to while receiving nothing in return. We are the publishing company you want representing you and your music. Why should any company charge you for uploading a song that might make the both of you a ton of that elusive mail-box money? The way we see it is you just never know where the next big hit is coming from so we welcome every song you write! There are no limits to how many you can submit and we accept all genres for the most part. One thing we'll never do is share your music with anyone unless we have an agreement between us. After all, that's the way it's suppose to be. . ...RETURN

 

 































Audio Watermark

Intellectual property is the valuable commodity every songwriter owns the moment they write a song. Protecting this valuable intellectual property is monumental is something your publisher should take seriously at every juncture. To facilitate this, we keep our online catalogue closed and accessible only to industry decision makers. But we still go one step farther when it comes to protecting your song. The mp3 player we've built that quickly loads and players your available new music is protected from download through coding used in the mp3 player design. The audio watermark is a proprietary feature we put on each song that keeps the song from being played back should the listener attempt to record the song using some other audio recording device.

 

 










































Industry-Only Portal

It's one thing to hear a new song and know without a doubt that it has hit making potential. It's a whole other thing to convey this accurately to the industry decision makers who are bombarded with new songs every day. There's also the trust that's so hard to get from the industry. We value this sacred trust and maintain our place with the industry by only pushing the best possible songs available that fit their needs. We will never push a sub-par composition to anyone who we have this trusting relationship with. When it comes to rating our songs, we don't just rely on our A&R staff and innovative software. We have a rating system built into our industry-only portal at www.deanslistmusic.com where industry decision makers are able to shop for new original music 24/7 and always with complete anonymity and click a simple "Thumbs Up" if they like the song. Couple this with our dedicated and super talented staff and you have an accurate rating that takes the guess work out of it for the artist, producers, music managers and a lot other really cool industry people who are registered to use our portal. ...RETURN

 

 









































Do You Employ Staff Writers?

Publishing is a huge part of the music industry and a very lucrative side of the business for songwriters looking for a way into the big leagues. "Staff Writer" is the job title of a songwriter who writes for a particular publisher who usually pays the writer some sort of recoupable writer's salary or agrees to a special points deal which most always is the better option for the songwriter, providing the songwriter doesn't have to rely solely on his/her publisher for their livable income. A songwriter who holds a Staff Writer position enjoys a comfortable relationship with his/her publisher and finds comfort knowing their songs are being pitched to the industry without having to look further for the enviable open door to the decision makers. Contract terms vary significantly between publisher and writer and from one writer to the next. Basic terms like length of time, demo cost, compensation and required song count are some of the many details worked out between publisher and writer.

Our Staff Writers are our number one priority and enjoy certain benignities not afforded to all writers who haven't earned the title. First time Staff Writer contracts are usually between 2 and 4 years with a 1 to 2 year extension clause giving us and the songwriter the option of a continued working relationship. With our unique approach found in our Staff Writer program, we're able to offer a more flexible writing schedule to our writers and a compensatory offer that doesn't require recoupable income terms.

It's been said that our Staff Writer program gives the writer an unencumbered writing lifestyle with freedom to grow as a songwriter. Many songwriters are pushed out of publishing deals where the publisher wasn't willing to wait for the songwriter to grow and become successful. Our Staff Writing program promotes growth and opportunity for prosperity regardless of past experiences or successes within the industry. ...RETURN

 

 




































































Can I Submit A Song To Your Company?

Absolutely! We are a full service publishing company and we're always looking for great songs to place with the many artists and other decision makers who look to us for new material. We welcome songwriters of all genres to submit new and original songs and if we feel your song is ready for the industry we'll offer you a single song publishing contract and gladly get the ball rolling for you. We've set up a special mailing address just for song submission. If you have an exceptional song on CD and would like a shot at getting your song cut, send it to us at P.O. Box 816, Brentwood, Tennessee 37024. Include a return address and we'll return your CD to you if we choose not to use it. We'll also include a written critique with your returned CD. We guarantee your song will never be heard by anyone other than us until a publishing agreement has been struck between our company and you. ...RETURN

 

 





































































What's Required For Music To Be Considered In TV And Film?

The TV and Film music supervisors are very different in the way their need for musical compositions are. Television shows evolve so quickly that there's no time for researching songwriters, getting approvals, negotiating with multiple people and many other time consuming things. When we make music available to TV and Film, we make sure to have all the agreements in place along with the proper licensing authority. All music for this purpose must be of the highest quality and submitted to us as .mp3 or .wav files. Also, we must have back line music for each song. This is typically an .aiff file format music only file. The back line music is used throughout the TV show or film with dialog over it. If the material has more than one writer/composer, we must have all information for each one. All required info is as follows:

Full legal name:
Name as used at your PRO:
Street Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Working Phone Number With Area Code:
Best E-mail Address:
Your PRO Affiliation (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, or other):

There are other helpful hints that can help you with getting your music considered. Just e-mail us at info.thedeanofmusicpublishing.com and we'll be happy to provide you with a comprehensive list of all things required. ...RETURN

 

 



















































Who We Are!

The Dean Of Music Publishing Group was created by us, a group of talented individuals who've chosen to make music our first love. We were songwriters first and have now created a great new innovative way to open doors for industry success as well as the all-important songwriters who have what it takes and need an opportunity. We're on our way to becoming a global licensed company as we continue to add new songwriters to our roster from all over The United States as well as from many other countries throughout the world. Our internet based Songwriter Association allows us a deep well of new and exciting material to choose from so that we may find diamonds in the rough guaranteed to be hit in the hands of the right decision maker. We offer our catalog to a global audience of industry decision makers that continues to grow each day. We offer the only opportunity of it's kind to and for the success of songwriters, as well as for the continued success of the entertainment industry. ...RETURN

 

 





































Our Songwriter Success Group

Not just another songwriter association that promises the moon but turns out to be just another site collecting money from membership. The Songwriter Success Group is actually a group of over 400 real live songwriters doing what they love to do best, and that's writing songs! Having launched in January of 2011, we already have over 400 members who love the craft of songwriting and who are enjoying having the support of our publishing company. YourTuneSpace.com is quickly becoming the home for songwriters of all genres who not only appreciate community, but also the fair and level playing field we have in place. We welcome songwriters of any skill level join our growing family of successful songwriters. And I think you'll be glad you did! ...RETURN

 

 















































Our Professional Demo Service

We do provide a professional demo recording opportunity for songwriters. We're fortunate to have many friends in the music business including recording studios. Most all of our demos are professionally recorded at The Tracking Room in Nashville. The Tracking Room Studio has been around for many years. It was recently used for the first episode of the TV show "Nashville"! A friendship I'm very proud of is with the legendary Buddy Hyatt, former keyboard player for the band TOTO. Buddy is an amazing all around studio guy and quite a songwriter himself. Everything we take to Buddy turns out perfect and radio ready.

Pay close attention to my next statement.

"Songwriters who work through us get a very special rate for their professionally produced and mastered demos."

If you have great songs that should be demo'd get with us by sending us an email to info@thedeanofmusicpublishing.com and we'll be happy to send you the information you need. ...RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




















The Cost Of Membership

That's a very good question! We think you'd agree that anything worth being a part of comes with a cost. The question is, why does everything have to come at such a high cost? The key is getting the most for the money while spending as little as you can. We call this being thrifty. And in this day and age, being thrifty is the key to survival! Our goal initially was to offer free membership for as long as we could. With the addition of the many helpful features we now have in place, not to mention the cost of IT support we incur on a daily basis, we now have to have a small cost in place for membership just to partially offset our out of pocket cost. However, we feel that it's important to keep this fee to a minimum and present it to you in a transparent way. First and foremost, we will never use our membership fee as a profit point. All membership fees go to directly support the maintenance and periodic updates to our sites, as well as to community involvement and support we periodically take part in as a company. Of course anything we do in the community furthers the exposure of our company and opportunity for our songwriters. Before we talk about cost I'd like you to consider one thing. Although there are a couple other songwriter association sites that cost $200 and up per year to be a part of, we're the only one owned and operated by a Nashville based music publisher. All other sites claim they can "get you to the industry". Well, we are the industry! So each and every song submitted to us through the Songwriter Success Group site comes directly to our publishing office to be considered ready to go to the artist, producers, record company executives and a lot of other really cool people in the entertainment industry! So how much does membership cost? How does $29.50 per year sound? That's a mere $2.45 per month. Less than one glorified cup of coffee at your favorite House of Java per month! Oh yea, unlike the other sites, we charge nothing for song uploads and base critiquing. ...RETURN

 

 






























Online Help

As a member of our Songwriter Success Group Association at YourTuneSpace.com you'll enjoy the comforting knowledge of knowing you have access to the many features we offer to each and every member. We want you to take full advantage of all we have to offer now, and in the future. You'll make many friends with other songwriting members who are more than happy to assist you in every aspect of songwriting. You'll have direct access to our publishing company and can at any time leave a personal message which we'll respond to with an answer.

When signed into the Songwriter Success Group site as a registered member you'll find a member's-only live chat area where members frequent often. Take full advantage of the many friendships you'll make and enjoy the helpful community atmosphere. Never be afraid to ask questions as many members have been around long enough and are happy to share their knowledge with you. You'll find many seasoned songwriters who'll happily collaborate with you which is something every songwriter seeks but is rarely able to find with so many options.

If you do have any questions and would like to find out more about what we offer as a publishing company, feel free to give us a call Monday thru Friday 10:00am to 4:00pm Central time at 1-615-618-3330 or email us at: info@thedeanofmusicpublishing.com. We'll get an answer to you as quick as we possibly can. ...RETURN

 

 



























Recoupable Writer's Salary

Recoupable income is sometimes termed an advancement of royalties. This is compensation paid up front to the songwriter who, upon successful placement of a song thereby earning royalties, has to reimburse the sometimes full amount back to the publisher before any royalty payment is made to the songwriter. Keeping up with paid advancements and the writer's progress in work is much easier when the writer is local and coming into the office each day. However, when a songwriter isn't local it becomes an impossibility at best. This is why we developed our Staff Writer program based on an added points system rather than an up-front advance which is recoupable. With our added points system the writer has the ability to design their own income with hard work and staying true to self. We've found this to be very advantageous for our Staff Writers giving them full creative license and freedom of schedule. ...RETURN

 

 







































Do You Place Music And Songs In TV and Film?

The answer is a huge "YES"! We have the best TV and Film contacts possible who are happy to work with us! We're always looking for new compositions to post to our TV/Film portal which gives our TV/Film contacts an easy way to sample what we make available to the as many times as they want to. This is important because a song they don't need today may very well be one they need tomorrow. And a song that one network or film studio doesn't need may very well be needed by the next. Keeping the material on the portal allows plenty of time for all TV/Film industry decision makers to consider many times as the scope of their projects change frequently. This yields the best opportunity for you! ...RETURN

 

 





































Studio Recording for professional album projects.

We do provide a professional studio recording opportunity for artist who need an affordable yet super professional way to produce their album projects. Just as most of our demos are professionally recorded at The Tracking Room in Nashville, we also use The Tracking Room Studio and the help of industry veteran Buddy Hyatt to professionally produce album projects for the artist we support. Buddy Hyatt is an amazing all around studio guy with one of the best ears in the business. Every project we take to Buddy turns out perfect and radio ready. We offer an exceptional rate for the professionally produced and mastered album projects we involve ourselves with. We also love to support new artist who need great songs for their freshman or sophomore projects. If you need great songs or feel you are ready to have your full album project produced, get with us by sending us an email to info@thedeanofmusicpublishing.com and we'll be happy to send you the information you need. ...RETURN

 

 




































Our Mission

Even though we do have Staff Writers we still highly value our Songwriter Success Group Association family of songwriters. Nowhere else will you find this caliber of talented songwriters in one place! Many of the songs that make up our catalogue of new hit making and available material come from not just our Staff Writers but also from the almost 400 members of our Songwriter Success Group Association. With our family of songwriters growing faster than we ever imagined, we've now employed additional innovative software to assist us with the task of making sure only the very best songs are selected and published for presentation to the industry. If you're a songwriter and would like an opportunity to get you foot in the door, visit us at YourTuneSpace.com and register. ...RETURN

 

 



































Our Association Writers

Even though we do have Staff Writers we still highly value our Songwriter Success Group Association family of songwriters. Nowhere else will you find this caliber of talented songwriters in one place! Many of the songs that make up our catalogue of new hit making and available material come from not just our Staff Writers but also from the almost 400 members of our Songwriter Success Group Association. With our family of songwriters growing faster than we ever imagined, we've now employed additional innovative software to assist us with the task of making sure only the very best songs are selected and published for presentation to the industry. If you're a songwriter and would like an opportunity to get you foot in the door, visit us at YourTuneSpace.com and register. ...RETURN

 

 







































A Fair And Level Playing Field

One of the most talked about features of our company's business model is how our online song catalogue, DeansListMusic.com always provides a fair and level playing field for all songwriters we work with. When you submit a song(s) that we consider pitch-ready, we'll place it on our online catalogue which is a industry-only site meaning only decision makers of the music, film, TV show, and advertisement industries who have previously registered can freely listen to and consider for their current or upcoming projects. The industry knows that only the best of the best will be placed here for their approval. Here's the "fair and level" part. All songs placed on our industry-only online song catalogue are posted wit only the catalogue number, song title and the mp3 file of the song to listen to. No information about the writer is ever made available until a deal is struck and licensing contract is in hand. This way only the song what's important. We think this is the way it should have been all the time. ...RETURN

 

 































































Our Open Door Policy

One of the really cool features you'll find in our company's business model is our open door policy when it comes to working with songwriters. We pride ourselves in keeping an open mind as well as a listening ear tuned to all songwriters who need professional publishing assistance. We welcome the opportunity to hear your new and original songs and we've set up several ways for you to submit. If you have your song demo in an mp3 file format you're welcome to email it/them to us at: submit@yourtunespace.com and we'll happily send you an email receipt for your records. If you have your original music on CDs, you're welcome to mail them to us at our special P.O. Box we now have. See - (Can I Submit A Song To Your Company) You'll need no special permission or code and we listen to each and every submitted song for placement consideration. If we don't feel your song is something we can use, we'll be glad to send it back to you providing you include a return address. ...RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Administrative Publishing

We're pleased to offer the service of Administrative Publishing for the busy songwriters and artist. As the music business continues to change we want to be there for all who needs our services. We stick with the time honored numbers that so many have made their way in the years past. We offer a very fair 15% / 85% split of net income instead of the higher splits and lower offerings many still have in place today. We understand the need to find new income avenues for our clients which is why we've designed our agreements to include the split for placing your cuts and songs on TV Shows and in Featured Films. That's right, we don't set around just depending on you selling CDs. We keep busy finding new ways to make you money! ...RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Innovative Software

With the surprisingly quick growth of our Songwriter Success Group, and the fast pace at which our members turn out new songs, we quickly realized a need for new cutting edge technology to step in and enhance our song critiquing capability. We left this up to the same people who created our audio watermark technology that safely guards the intellectual property of our songwriters who have songs placed on our industry-only catalogue site DeansListMusic.com. Keep in mind that even I don't have all the intimate details of how this software works, (we couldn't afford to buy it so we only licensed it), but it's super accurate when compared to our human counter parts which we call our A&R team. We're told it works much like the app's lots of people have on their smart phones that listen to music playing then identifies the pertinent information giving you an opportunity to purchase the song by connecting you to one of several sites where, for a fee, you can download the song. The difference here is that the software listens to the new song then uses some sort of algorithmic program that compares the song to a vast databank of genre specific hit songs from the past. We then get a numerical readout between 1 and 100 that equates to the percentage of likelihood the song in question has of becoming a hit! As stated above, we've tested this against our human A&R team and time after time it has been pretty much spot on. Keep in mind however, We'll never not use professional human ears and listening preferences to rate songs for industry readiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Staff Writer Program

After months of careful evaluation of the current ways staff writers are compensated, and what it means to be a staff writer, we've developed our own staff writer program that's loved by all! It all started with an idea of building our own songwriter association which we now have. We call it The Songwriter Success Group which can be found at www.yourtunespace.com. And out of this idea was born an innovative way to source exceptional material from all over that otherwise may never have been discovered. With just under 400 songwriting members, we now have a wealth of professionally developed demos free for you to consider.

Over the past year or so that the Songwriter Success Group has been operational, we've discovered some very talented songwriters. After working with these writers it became obvious who the main ones were through their exemplary dedication to creative songwriting and strong work ethics proven by their submitted material. We decided to offer these writer the title of Staff Writer and in turn offer them a compensation package that would allow them complete freedom in their songwriting schedule as well as remove limits imposed by the current staff writer models.

Considering that most of our songwriters weren't local to our office, we decided to use an additional points system that put the earning potential back into the writers hands. We do require an agreed upon set of rules primarily giving us the first right of refusal on every song the songwriter writes for the contract time. If we choose not to publish a particular song, the writer has the freedom to submit this refused work elsewhere. Songwriters who are local to our offices are given a choice of compensation packages.

If you're a songwriter and would like to know more about our Staff Writer Program feel free to drop us a line at info@thedeanofmusicpublishing.com and we'll happily send you our informational letter. We look forward to helping your songwriting career!