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The Music Publishing Business Course

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The Music Publishing Business Course cover

18 lessons covering rights, royalties, licensing, catalog management and accounting, with worked cases, teacher and self-paced editions, and a practical capstone. 2026 edition.

Course contents

  1. The business behind the song
  2. Building the catalog record
  3. Starting a publishing company
  4. Acquiring songs and valuing catalogs
  5. Copyright ownership registration and duration
  6. Negotiating songwriter agreements
  7. Co publishing and administration
  8. Mechanical licensing and streaming royalties
  9. Public performance and collection societies
  10. Synchronization and audiovisual licensing
  11. International rights and collections
  12. Print lyrics and educational uses
  13. Theater and dramatic uses
  14. Advertising branded content and endorsements
  15. Samples games platforms and artificial intelligence
  16. Developing songs and finding uses
  17. Marketing a publishing catalog
  18. Accounting management and continuity

Sample lesson

The business behind the song

Read the lesson and use its demonstrations

Instruction

Separate composition and recording interests and identify missing clearance evidence.

Practice sequence

  • Read Chapter 1.
  • Lena and Omar have a signed 60/40 composition split. Lena paid for the recording, but no master agreement is available. A filmmaker asks for twenty seconds of the existing recording worldwide for five years. Draw the rights map and prepare an evidence request.
  • Complete your own attempt before comparing the feedback.

Your assignment

A one-page rights map and a five-item evidence request.

Review points

  • Separate composition and recording interests and identify missing clearance evidence.
  • Show assumptions, evidence and calculations where applicable.
  • Correct quiz errors and revise the practical work before moving on.