What are publishing rights in music?

Published on May 2024 by Rutger

Music Publishing is an essential part of the music industry, and if you as a songwriter, want to make money from your music, you need to know what publishing rights are.

Publishing Rights refer to the ownership and control of a musical composition. This includes the melody and lyrics of a song. When songwriters create a composition, they own the publishing rights by default. Publishing rights differ from master rights, which are about who owns and controls a recording of a musical composition, usually a record label.