Student Edition
The Music Publishing Business Course
Tim Whitsett with Mike Lawson
Build a publishing catalog, compare agreements, license music and reconcile royalties. Eighteen units, fourteen worksheets and a final portfolio, with worked examples and independent-study guidance.
18 units · 50 hours of course instruction · PDF and Word editions
Start with the rights
A song and a recording have separate rights. A writer may own part of a song while owning none of a particular recording. Begin with Evening Train: Lena wrote 60 percent and Omar wrote 40 percent of the composition; Lena owns the recording. Those percentages belong in separate records.
Work through a three-song case catalog, then use your records to answer licensing requests, review offers and prepare a royalty account. The final portfolio brings the work together in a publishing plan.
Inside the course
- The business behind a song
- Building a catalog people can use
- Planning a small publishing business
- Deciding whether a catalog is worth buying
- Copyright and a young songwriter
- Reading a songwriter agreement
- Sharing publishing interests and hiring an administrator
- Mechanical royalties and streaming
- Public performance and collection organizations
- Music for film and video
- Following a song across borders
- Print lyrics and educational materials
- Songs on stage
- Advertising and a writer's choices
- Samples games and responsible AI use
- Developing songs and preparing useful demos
- Presenting a catalog and exploring a career
- Accounting and keeping the work going
Course materials
The Student Edition includes the lessons, case file, fourteen worksheets, review projects, glossary and answers to the understanding checks. The Teacher Edition adds teaching plans, assignment answers and assessment guidance.