Music publishing and distribution: organise both sides

Make a two-part rights record

Start with the musical work: title, composers, lyricists, agreed shares and any publisher or administrator. Then record the master: recording title, version, performers, recording owner, ISRC and distributor. The same person can participate on both sides, but the interests and contracts are different.

Understand the main questions

• Performance: who represents the song when it is performed or communicated to the public under the relevant local arrangements?
• Reproduction: who handles mechanical rights and income for the formats and markets involved?
• Visual use: who can approve putting the song into a video, film, game or advertisement?
• Administration: who registers works, deals with matching problems and accounts for money under the agreed mandate?

Before choosing representation

Review the territory, term, rights covered, fees, commission, accounting and termination provisions of any proposed agreement. Ask what is excluded and how existing representation will be handled. A promise to collect “everything” needs a precise written scope. Do not authorise two organisations to claim the same share for the same rights and territory without understanding how their mandates interact.

Create a registration preparation pack

1. The definitive work title and known alternative titles.
2. Every writer’s correct details and agreed percentage; confirm the total and resolve disagreements.
3. Existing society, publisher and administrator affiliations, with work and party identifiers where available.
4. The recordings using the work, with relevant ISRCs and release information.
5. Signed agreements, sample or adaptation permissions and contact details for anyone whose approval is required.

Example: a self-releasing songwriter

A songwriter owns a recording and releases it through DistroBolt. They separately check the performing-rights and mechanical representation for their song and retain any publishing agreement. Their distribution payout and composition statements can describe different rights, periods and deductions. They reconcile each statement against its own agreement rather than treating the combined amounts as proof of a fixed royalty per stream.

What DistroBolt offers here

DistroBolt provides distribution and the recording-side services stated in the applicable plan. The standard distribution revenue split is 90% to the artist side and 10% to DistroBolt under the current terms; this does not define the ownership shares in your composition. Free recording-income splits are a separate allocation tool. Publishing administration, legal clearance and sync placement are not promised as included services by this guide.