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Liner Notes
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Publishing and Royalties 101:
The Nuts and Bolts of Songwriting Income
(Part One of a Two-part
Article)
By Darcie-Nicole Wicknick
Special to MusicBizAdvice.com
ROYALTY SOURCES FOR THE SONGWRITER AND PUBLISHER
There are many sources from which writers can collect royalties. Here are a
few of them:
Compulsory Mechanical Licenses, and The Role of the Harry Fox
Agency
A compulsory mechanical license is sought when an artist wants to cover a song (or portion
thereof) that another artist has already recorded. (This license differs from a license
someone would seek to record a sample of another recording on their new sound recording;
That is a non-compulsory master use license, which we’ll cover in a moment.) The
owner(s) of the song must grant this license, as long as the artist is replaying the song
or part thereof in a completely new performance of it. The artist who seeks this license
(obtainable through http://www.harryfox.com) pays a flat rate per song, per unit pressed
(not sold), in advance, up to five minutes in length, and no more than ten songs per
album. (The flat rate varies, so contact Harry Fox Agency for today’s rate.)
The Harry Fox Agency will then distribute the royalties to the appropriate parties that
own the song (this may be the writer, the publisher, and/or other entities, depending on
the individual circumstances).
If you don’t know who owns a song, you may look that information up on ASCAP and BMI
websites in their respective TITLE SEARCH sections.
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