The world of music begins with creative effort – the song. What happens next with that song is the business of music. Many times the first contact that a songwriter has with this business side of music is through dealings with a music publisher. This relationship can be one of the most important ones a songwriter will ever enter into as the role of the music publisher is to exploit the song (get artists to record it; get the song placed in motion pictures, television series, videogames, advertising commercials, ringtones and ringbacks, dolls and toys, musical greeting cards, etc.); to negotiate the deals with all of those who want to use the song (film and TV producers, advertising agencies, videogame companies, etc.); to protect the song (copyright the song, sue infringers, register the song with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Harry Fox Agency, foreign country collection societies, etc.); and to collect all of the song’s earnings from all sources (with the exception of the writer’s share of performance monies) and pay the songwriter his or her share according to the songwriter/music publisher contract.
