If you are a musician that has songs on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Music, the chances you are registered with a distributor such as CD Baby or Distrokid is high. We have mentioned the difference between recording royalties and publishing royalties in one of our articles (if you want to be brought up to speed). There is a catch to registering for a publishing company independently that you may be unfamiliar with if you want to receive all 100% of your money.
What's The Secret?
The secret is that when you register your songs with a publisher you are entitled to 50% of your royalties. The only way for you to receive 100% of your royalties from publishers is if you either go through an existing company (who will make your 100% more like 65%) or to register your own company. Registering a basic company that acts as your own publishing company so you can receive all 100% of your royalties is not as involved as people make it out to be.
How to Register Your Own Company
The process to register your own publishing company will take a couple hundred dollars, a day out of your week to file the paperwork, and 5-10 business days for your local county to get it all set up.
The Price For Not Registering
The price of not registering will cost you up to 50% of all your publishing royalties. If you are serious about making your music a career which you can live off of, this is necessary. You are going to need everything that you can make especially the things that are well within your control. Why shouldn't you receive 100% of your royalties? Why should you let someone else dip their hands into your money when all you have to do is register a company name?
Conclusion
In order to make a living off of music you will need all the money that you are entitled to. The truth of the matter is that if you do not have the time or want to register your own company in order to reap all of your benefits as a musician than you are not that serious and can continue to take it as a fun hobby. But if you are serious and want to live life making music and doing the things you want to do, then sign up for BMI or ASCAP, register a company with your state/province, and continue making your music.
Are you serious about making more money from your music?
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