Music Publishing The Complete Guide

Written by an attorney with over 30 years of experience in the music industry, Music Publishing: The Complete Guide is the definitive manual on music copyright. Whereas many books on the subject are aimed at artists and songwriters, this book will serve as a thorough guide for industry pros, lawyers, and music business and law students.

Subjects covered include copyright; performing rights organizations; mechanical, synchronization, and print licensing; songwriter and composer agreements; publishing administration and foreign sub-publishing; production music libraries; pitching and placement companies; sampling; and much more. The discussion also delves into historical perspective and current trends and revenue opportunities in the evolving digital marketplace. Easy-to-read narratives explain the key points for all of these types of deals.

There are many sample agreements included in the book, all annotated in simple terms that explain the often complex contract language. There are also links to copyright and publishing resources, listings of foreign performance and mechanical societies, and anecdotes and case studies from real world incidents. If you’re looking for a thorough grounding and go-to reference book on music copyright, not just a quick crash course, your search is over.

Steve’s Music Publishing text is fantastic. It is personal, practical, and even includes excellent real world case studies. Furthermore, the helpful agreement annotations and comments are a most excellent resource for breaking down agreement language and terms for the reader. His knowledge, experience, and sense of humor make this the best music publishing text I’ve read. I will be using Steve’s book as the official text for our Music Publishing course at The University of Colorado Denver’s Music Industry Program. All those interested in learning more about music publishing or having a sharp reference text should get this book!”—Benom Plumb, Assistant Professor, Music & Entertainment Industry Studies, University of Colorado Denver

“Filled with examples of real-life situations that mirror what industry professionals face every day, [the book is] also very down-to-earth as written and not rife with legalese as might be expected for a book on this subject . . . Winogradsky has poured 30 years of experience into this book. It shows, and it will be appreciated by both students and professionals.”—John Burlingame, The Film Music Society

“The greatest strength of this book, which really sets it apart from other books on publishing, is the inclusion of sample documents with extensive explanation by the author . . . Winogradsky walks the reader through each of the contracts using a side-column running analysis and commentary which includes illustrative calculations. It is the next best thing to having an attorney present . . . Students can review these documents on their own, with the author’s help, which makes them invaluable resources.”—Benjamin Smith, MEIEA Journal”