Music Publishing Agreement Law and Legal Definition
A Music Publishing Agreement is a legal copyright contract entered into between a song writer and a music publishing company whereby the publisher owns or rents the writer’s songs for a certain period and administers the compositions in a certain territory for generating income. The writer will be paid royalties for the compositions. The Publisher administers and exploits the musical compositions to generate income to be shared between the publisher and the writer. The Music Publishing Agreement assigns or license musical compositions to a publisher to administrate the compositions for a designated time. The writer is compensated in the form of royalties. The writer may grant exclusive publication rights to all of Writer's musical compositions created during a certain period. Publisher may have exclusive, worldwide, royalty bearing license to publication rights in such musical compositions, including the title, words, and music. The Agreement may be for a specific period and the parties may renew it. The Publisher may also have the right to publish and sell, and to license others to print, publish and sell sheet music, orchestrations, arrangements and other editions of the said compositions in all forms. The Publisher may have the right to perform the musical compositions publicly, whether for profit or otherwise and may substitute a new title or titles for said compositions. The Publisher is also authorized to make master records, transcriptions, sound tracks, pressings, and any other mechanical, electrical or other productions of said compositions.
