As a musician, your goal is to write the songs that will build your following, increase your popularity, and create revenue. To make a living, you'll need to develop and manage multiple revenue streams, including live performance, record sales, streaming, merch, publishing, and more. The bottom line... it's called the music business for a reason.

From putting together and managing your band to working in the studio, booking and promoting gigs, handling publicity, releasing new music, and finding the right outlets for distribution, the business of music takes time and focus. In your early career, managing these duties will fall on you. As your career grows, you'll put together a team to handle the business side, allowing you to refocus on the music.

As you continue releasing music and generating income, you can begin to build your team. Your team can include a music attorney, booking agent, publicist, record label, producer, manager, and a publishing company.
 
Another important team member to consider is a music publishing administration company. In this post, we're going to look at the role a music publishing admin company plays in boosting your career and income.

What is a Music Publishing Admin Company?
There can sometimes be confusion over the differences between a music publisher and a music publishing admin company for many musicians. One important difference is ownership. A music publisher owns a percentage of the composition's copyright and works to find licensing opportunities. If you don't have an outside publisher, then the songwriter is the publisher.
 
A music publishing admin company is empowered by the publisher or songwriter to manage their copyrights and account for the royalties and licensing income generated. A music publishing admin company does NOT own any of the composition. They work in exchange for a small commission from the royalties that they collect. This motivates them to be as thorough as possible and negotiate the best rates for film, TV, samples, and advertising usages.

Your music publishing admin company manages your rights in the marketplace by registering and licensing your songs with the proper entities including Performing Rights Organizations (like ASCAP or BMI) and Collective Management Organizations. As the copyright holder, you retain ownership and creative control of your music.

Develop A Publishing Collection Strategy
Many musicians think their distributors collect and pay them all of the money to which they are entitled. If your music is being performed, streamed, or sold globally, distribution alone doesn't get you all of the money your music is earning. You must develop a publishing collection strategy to make sure you are collecting across all revenue streams.
 
The missing piece of the puzzle is a music publishing admin company. Their role is registering your works with performing and mechanical rights societies globally. They act like a “distributor” to the global marketplace and work with performing rights and mechanical societies worldwide to ensure your music is properly registered and collecting royalties wherever it is being performed, sold, or distributed.

The Takeaway...
Just like sound recordings have global systems in place for making money, compositions and songwriters earn income from a complex global network of licensing agreements that exist between rights societies, live venues, retailers, broadcasters, and new digital platforms to make sure that artists and publishers collect all revenue streams including sales, performances, print, and all reproductions of their compositions.
 
Today, to survive as an artist means developing and taking advantage of multiple income streams, including performing, recording merchandise, endorsement deals, and publishing revenue for artists who also write some or all of their music. Managing your publishing activities across various channels and platforms is vital to receiving all of the income you are due.
 
The solution? Add a music publishing admin company to your team. Working with a music publishing admin company will help you maximize your catalog's value through licensing, placements, and collections from worldwide sources where your music is being played.

About Missing Link Music
Missing Link Music are established music publishing and rights management experts, with a proud history of exponential growth over the last 20 years. Our modern stream-lined approach to royalty collection is designed to get the songwriter and copyright holder paid quickly, fairly and transparently.

Additionally, Missing Link Music is one of the leading independent music publishing companies offering fast, efficient and transparent licensing and royalty collection for songwriters and copyright holders. Its custom-tailored royalty and licensing system was developed in-house, and is modeled on the global CWR-based data exchange format embraced by music and media companies around the globe.
Whether you need a royalty advance, comprehensive international royalty administration or help getting your songs commercially placed with artists, in films or on TV –- Missing Link Music is there for you.