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Areas, Roles and Contracts in The Music Industry

- TASK A -
The music industry is a very diverse business, and therefore can be divided into many fields
of interest. Around a musical work, in fact, many professions are involved: from managers
to sound engineers, from distribution companies to booking agencies, every role is equally
important in the elaboration of a final product able to reach out to the market and generate
revenue. As stated by ukmusic.org, “£3.5bn [is] the economic contribution of the core UK
music industry. This is made up of: £1.6bn from musicians, composers and songwriters;
£634 m from recorded music; £662m from live music; £402m from music publishing; £151m
from music representatives; £80m from music producers, recording studios; £1.4bn the
value of exports; 101,680 full time jobs”. It is clear how we need to categorize and analyse
each of these sectors in order to understand such a complex network. As a first overall
subdivision, it is necessary to distinguish four main areas of the music business: live
performance, record companies, music publishing companies and artist management. In the
following paragraphs I am going to introduce each of them in detail, investigating on their
characteristics.

Live Performance

Live music has always been the core of the industry since the earliest ages of human history.
Before the invention of records (prior to the 20th Century, essentially), or more specifically,
before their introduction on the market, concerts were the only way to listen to music –
unless you were able to play music yourself at home. Nowadays, after about 50 years of a
record-focused market, with the advent of Internet and streaming live music has become
again the main interest of the industry, since albums are not selling anymore (or at least as
much as they used to).
The sector of live music employs a wide and diverse range of professional roles. For what
concerns the proper “music-making” side of it, the people employed include session
musicians, arrangers, musical and artistic directors and sound and light engineers; a live gig,
though, has a whole other team of people that work backstage.
Booking agents and promoters work in order to arrange the gig with the venue, and then set
up and advertise the gig (booking agents are often in charge of a venue calendar and do just
the first passage, while promoters usually take care of the whole preparation, especially in
the indie circuit) and event/tour managers organise all the off-stage schedule (snacks and
drinks, changing rooms, press, etc.) often planning every single moment of the day. Often
they are helped by a wide range of assistants.Retailers, moreover, take care of the merch or
record shop related to the gig.
It is evident how many different jobs exist within the live sector of the music industry. This is
all due to the fact the artist, being the vehicle through which the product attracts ticket-
buyers, should not worry about a single aspect of the off-stage management, and therefore
should just focus on delivering a great performance, while staying healthy, prepared and
relaxed as much as he or she can; on the other hand, though, this can also indeed optimise
the effort to monetise as much as possible, without leaving any commercial opportunity out.

Record Companies
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Many hundreds of record labels exist with the British music industry, including the four
major record companies and a wide range of independent labels and music companies that
do not depend on them.
The three major record companies are Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, and
each of these organisations have embodied smaller labels that aim to group together
musicians of a specific genre or current in order to promote and support them according to
their specific needs. They also have international branches that take care of local marketing
and sign local artists as well.
An example of independent label, on the other hand, could be Rough Trade, a West London
based company that was born originally as a music retail shop but that then started
supporting artists of its own.
Major labels have big A&R teams that sign new artists non-stop, since they can deal with
great amounts of artists at the same time thanks to their facilities (big recording studios
with great producers and latest technology are amongst these). They seek new acts
amongst events that interest mass culture (national and international competitions, talent
shows, local scenes that sets trends). Indie labels, on the other hand, often spend less
energies on that, and their A&R team may just work by recommendation or refer to a
specific category of artists.
Major labels therefore usually sign mainstream artists that therefore need to get good radio
and TV broadcast and a good distribution campaign in order to reach big audiences; some of
the biggest selling pop artists are,in fact, signed to majors, like Katy Perry or Justin Bieber,
but some exceptions like Adele, signed to the indie label XL Records, do still exist (in such
cases, though, bigger labels are very likely to take care on the distribution side similarly to
other major artists).
To sum up, majors and indies do have different approaches, but the choice of signing with
either of them will not prevent the artist’s success to eventually spread world-wide.

Music Publishing

The term “publisher” has its origins from that era in which music was primarily (or solely)
sold in the form of sheet music, following principles not different from what book publishers
still do today. Music sheet, though, nowadays represents a minimum part of the income of a
songwriter; a music publisher, in fact, takes care of other more important aspects of a
songwriter’s career.
Publishers towards songwriters have three main roles: first, they actively look for ways to
use your music (for example, turning it a film soundtrack through synchronisation, or finding
a performer willing to record one or more songs from your repertoire); secondly, they issue
licenses to the people who agreed or are willing to use your music; thirdly, they collect the
income generated by those licenses. The last two roles are often done in conjunction with
collection societies.
The publisher is usually paid back by taking a percentage of the total revenue generated by
the songwriters; therefore, in the eyes of collection societies, they are treated in a similar
way. The income generated in this way is usually partially paid back in advance to the
songwriters in order to financially support them during their creative process.
Surely a bigger number of songwriters signed corresponds to a bigger amount of work and
income to the publisher, that therefore have available its own A&R team.

In fact, the success of a publisher is related also to his ability to build an efficient network,
capable to create and employ huge amounts of musical works and compositions through
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recommendations, collaborations and, in general, relationships with other professional

figures of the industry (especially record labels and production groups within music,
cinematography, advertisement or video games, just to make a brief list of examples).

Artist Management

Following the principle that an artist should just focus on the musical and creative side of his
career, the figure of the manager becomes incredibly important, since he or she (or even
they) has to take care of all the business that does not concern that.
This means that music managers perform a multitude of tasks to help recording artists
create and perform music. They must be knowledgeable about not only the music industry,
but also music composition and history. They may go by many different job titles, depending
on their particular set of duties, such as artist manager, business manager, talent agent, tour
coordinator, and music business consultant.
Artist managers’ duties are several. In representing their clients, they will be responsible for
writing contracts that are advantageous to both the artist and the company or agency.
Managers should also have knowledge in accounting, entertainment law, and contracts for
this part of the job, and musicians may rely on them to handle financial affairs too: this can
mean working with an investment company to develop a stock portfolio, budgeting
expenditures, paying taxes, and working out a stipend or salary regimen. Much of the time
as a music manager, though, will be spent scheduling recording sessions or arranging
concert tours. Theycould also work with national and local businesses in order to develop
sponsorships, which can offset the cost of a tour, and they usually take care of budgeting as
well. On the recording side, they represent their clients by developing recording contracts
and scheduling sessions.
Big acts are usually managed by a team of people, while on the other hand an indie band
may just have one local manager taking care of them. Managers do not a need a degree or
particular technical skills to do their job, as the best ones are usually those who are simply
strongly determined, have great networking skills and can be versatile and adaptable.

- TASK B–
A&R in Music Publishing
In order to analyse more in detail what it means to work and make agreements in the music
industry, I am going to investigate the characteristics of a particular job existing within music
publishing companies: the A&R executive.
A&R in general, as mentioned before, is a division present also in record labels that has
responsibilities in terms of scouting new talent to recruit. Within publishing companies,
specifically, A&R is also the department responsible for suggesting collaborations, pitching
songs and providing creative support. The department itself is then divided in more
subcategories (Catalogue, for example, focus a lot on older songs, pitching songs for covers
and samples and act as the “point person” for many of the heritage acts on the company’s
roster).
A&R are the ultimate means through which a songwriter is introduced and then eventually
gets signed by the publisher, and therefore their role is considered similar to the on of
applicants for other jobs. If a songwriter wants a publishing deal, he or she should just try to
get a personal introduction to an A&R manager, since it may be so much more effective
than sending in a demo unsolicited, which might not get heard by the right person at the
right moment.
Publishing Contracts
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The A&R department, being in close contact with new songwriters ready to be signed, is
very likely to be handling this type of contracts all the time.
Some of the points that are laid out on a contract include term (the duration of validity of
the deal itself), advances (upfront money that the publisher agrees to give the signed
songwriter in order to support them financially during their creative process), split (the
agreed shares on the income deriving from the licensing of all the future published work),
territories (term for the right to publish in various countries) and minimum delivery of songs
to be written during the term agreed.
In order to get a precise overview of what a publishing contract looks like, there is no better
way to do that than taking an actual example of it and commenting the parts it is composed
of. Being able to spot a “good” or a “bad” contract is in fact fundamental in order to get a
satisfying job as a signed songwriter; this means that it is necessary to understand its
conditions and evaluate whether its advantages outweigh the drawbacks. The drawbacks in
a contract are often constituted by the so-called “Exclusive Extensions and Options”, which
will include further minimum commitments and time periods. Songwriters should also be
aware of all the publisher’s obligations agreed by contract, and that is of course to know
what they have the right to get (even if usually publishers tend to keep this section to its
essentials).

The following section will contain some examples of the content of a sub-publishing
contract with comments and analysis made on the side. A sub-publishing consists in an
agreement made with a minor publisher that depends on a major publishing company.
IT IS AGREED AND STIPULATED THAT This defines the rights which are being
1. In consideration of the agreement for payment by Subpublisher to granted to the publisher or
Publisher of the royalties fees and other sums mentioned herein administrator.
Publisher hereby grants to Subpublisher the sole and exclusive right on
behalf of Publisher to publish reproduce perform broadcast and record
on phonograph records and authorise others to do so the musical
Compositions under the control of the Publisher.

2. The rights mentioned herein shall remain with Subpublisher until This is the term and defines the duration
31st December 2006 PROVIDED THAT Publisher shall retain the rights for of the agreement.
the full Term of Copyright including any extensions and renewals on any
Compositions that are subject to the provisions of Clause 5 (iv). Subject to
the terms and provisions of this agreement, Subpublisher shall collect on
behalf of Publisher all income heretofore unpaid and now payable and all
income earned during this agreement which shall become payable during
the term and within one (1) year thereafter, in connection with all sales
and uses of the Compositions in the Licensed Territory.

3. The Licensed Territory shall be The World. This defines the territories you are
granting.

4. Publisher grants and transfers to Subpublisher, the exclusive right in This allows the publisher to give
the Licensed Territory, on behalf of the Publisher for the duration of this permission for adaptations and
agreement: translations of the words of any of your
a) Subject to the prior absolute consent of Publisher, such consent not to songs into foreign languages but only
be unreasonably withheld, to make or cause to be made, adaptations with your prior consent. Those
and/or translations of the lyrics of the Compositions into the language(s) translations will be still subjected to the
of the Licensed Territory; publisher’s rights on the original
composition.

b) To broadcast and/or record on any carrier now or thereafter known as This confirms the publisher’s right to
the Compositions and/or authorise others to do so, by radio, television or allow others to broadcast or record your
by any other means except as provided herein. songs.

c) To publish the Compositions in periodicals, newspapers, magazines, albums and This confirms the right of the publisher to print
books. and allow others to print your songs.
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d) Subject to the prior consent of Publisher, such consent not to be This allows the publisher to allow third
unreasonably withheld, the exclusive right to grant non-exclusive licenses parties to use your songs in conjunction
for the use of limited synchronization rights which shall be limited to the with visual images but only where there
territory and to the right to record, reproduce, perform and exhibit the is no merchandising or product involved.
Compositions in or in connection with radio, television and cinema
productions.

e) Provided that Subpublisher shall first obtain the prior written consent Provided permission has been given, this
of Publisher in each instance, which consent may be withheld for any allows the publisher to let your songs to
reason, the exclusive right to grant non exclusive licenses for any uses be used for advertising purposes.
now or hereafter known of the Compositions for or in connection with
the advertising or merchandising of products or services of any kind, such
rights always limited to the Licensed Territory.

f) Notwithstanding the information contained herein, Subpublisher may This confirms that the publisher cannot
not make any material alterations to Compositions without prior consent make any major changes without your
of the Publisher. permission. This is specified in order to
protect the intellectual freedom and the
creativity of the songwriter.

g) Subpublisher shall grant any licences requested by the Publisher This confirms that the publisher must
grant any application to use your songs if
you request that they be granted (even if
the publisher does not want to).

h) Subpublisher may not make any alterations to the Compositions This is to confirm that if there are any
without prior consent of the Publisher that would affect Publisher’s share alterations made to your songs it cannot
of the royalties. affect your share.

5. Subpublisher agrees to pay to Original Publisher the following royalties: This confirms the right of the publisher to
(i) Print Income: A) Twelve and one half per cent (12.5%) of the suggested sell or grant others the right to sell
retail selling price in the country of sale of each printed edition (except printed sheet music. If they grant the
printed album folios or similar editions) of the Compositions sold by right to a third party it must be one that
Subpublisher and paid for and not returned PROVIDED HOWEVER that if they have no controlling interest in.
Subpublisher licenses to third parties (on an arms length basis) the right
to manufacture and sell such printed editions embodying the
Compositions the amount payable to the Publisher pursuant to this
Clause 5 (i) shall be Eighty Five per cent (85%) of all amounts received by
Subpublisher from such third parties in respect of its manufacture and
sale of such printed editions embodying the Compositions.

B) A fraction of twelve and one half per cent (12.5%) of the suggested Relates to your share of income when
retail price in the country of sale of each compilation sold or otherwise your songs are used in a folio together
distributed by the licensee, the numerator of which shall be the number with other songs.
of Compositions contained in the said compilation and the denominator
of which shall be the total number of copyrighted compositions in such
compilation; PROVIDED HOWEVER that if Subpublisher licenses to third
parties (on an arms length basis) the right to manufacture and sell such
printed compilations the amount payable shall be as in preceding
sub-clause 5 (i)A.

(ii) Performance Income: Subpublisher will notify the national performing This confirms your share of performance
rights society in the Licensed Territory that the Publisher share of income.
broadcast and performing fees on the Compositions and of resulting
versions are to be collected by Subpublisher and that the gross
performance income i.e. 12/12th’s, shall be divided in the following
divisions;
Publisher/Writers: Eighty Five per cent (85%): Subpublisher: Fifteen per
cent (15%)

(iii) Mechanical Income: Eighty Five per cent (85%) of all gross monies This confirms your share of record
actually received by or credited by Subpublisher as royalties for royalties for original versions and cover
mechanical reproductions. recordings.
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(iv) New Income: Notwithstanding anything else contained herein, for Stipulates that for any income that has
income received by the Publisher on sales and uses that are as a result of been earned as a direct result of the
the efforts of the Publisher including but not limited to Local Cover efforts of the publisher, the publisher will
Recordings, new synchronization uses, compositions that result from take a higher commission.
liaisons with co-writers introduced by the Publisher, master placement by
the Publisher of masters containing recordings of the Compositions and
any other sales and use that could not have taken place without the
involvement of the Publisher, the royalty payable shall be Seventy per
cent (70%).

(v) Synchronization Income: Eighty Five per cent (85%) of all income Synchronization income is money
actually received by Subpublisher and derived from any source whatever received for uses of your songs with other
in connection with sales and uses of limited synchronization rights visual images.
relating to the compositions.

(vi) Other income: Eighty Five per cent (85%) of income derived from Confirms the royalties you will receive
sales and uses of Compositions and not otherwise specifically from any income earned not covered by
hereinabove provided for. previous clauses.

(vii) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the This paragraph confirms that there will
words Eighty Five per cent (85%) shall be replaced by the words Eighty only be one global deduction of your
per cent (80%) for income received for sales and uses outside the United royalties other than commissions which
Kingdom & Eire. have been made by collection societies
All royalties payable hereunder shall be calculated on an "at source" basis such as PRS/MCPS and any other local
subject only to deductions made by bona fide collection societies in the taxes.
Licensed Territory, VAT and other applicable sales taxes and any sums
withheld due to government and/or fiscal regulations. Subpublisher will
supply Publisher with a tax certificate.

6. Payment of royalties by Subpublisher to Publisher shall be made This confirms when you will be receiving
half-yearly within (60) sixty days of June 30th and December 31st of each statements and for what period they will
year and should cover income received by Subpublisher in the preceding cover, together with the information that
six month period and be accompanied by a statement containing the should appear on your statements.
following information:
1. Title
2. Number of printed copies and recorded versions of compositions sold
3. The performance credits for the composition
4. The source and gross amount of income
5. Sub-publishers percentage and share of income
6. The period during which the income was earned
All statements to be rendered hereunder shall be certified by a chartered
or registered accountant or the local equivalent thereof, or certified as
accurate by an officer of Subpublisher. Statements shall be accompanied
by the relevant portions of statements received by Subpublisher from
sub-publishers in the Licensed Territory.

7. All payments to be made hereunder shall be made by wire transfer or cheque to This confirms how you will be paid and
the bank of Publisher. In the event that such payment is to be made in foreign that you accept that there may be local
currency, the rate of exchange shall be the same as the rate prevailing at the time taxation levied on your royalties.
the royalties which are the subject of such payments were received by
Subpublisher. The parties hereby agree that taxes required to be withheld or to be
paid upon earned income in accordance with local law shall be deducted from the
amounts payable to Publisher unless or until Publisher shall deliver to Subpublisher
a certificate of exemption, or some like certificate. In the event that a local
government shall not permit a payment to be made to Publisher, Subpublisher
shall so notify Publisher immediately and Subpublisher shall, when so instructed by
Publisher, deposit such payment to the account of Publisher in a local bank.
Subpublisher agrees to provide appropriate certificate of withholding tax and/or
taxation as appropriate and assist in having them approved by the proper
authority.

8. Publisher or its designated representative shall have the right once Confirms you will be able to audit the
each year during the term of the agreement and for a period of two years books of the publisher to make sure you
thereafter to audit the books and records of Subpublisher at any time and have been paid correctly and that if you
from time to time during the normal business hours of Subpublisher and find an error of more than 10% of what
upon reasonable advance notice. The costs of any such audit shall be has been paid to you, provided that it is
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borne by Publisher provided however that in the event that it shall be at least 1,000, you will not have to pay
determined that Original Publisher shall have been underpaid by a sum for the audit, the publisher will.
equal to or exceeding 10% of the amount paid to Original Publisher for
the audited period, subject to a minimum of One Thousand Pounds
Sterling, any and all costs of such audit except travel and subsistence
costs shall be borne by Subpublisher.

9. The Subpublisher hereby represents and warrants to Publisher that it You are confirming that there are no
knows of no charge, actions, suits, proceedings, agreements or other legal problems covering the agreement.
impediments, actual or threatened, which could prevent or impair it from This is a crucial part, and it need proper
performing its duties hereunder. legal advice, since the songwriter may
not be aware of what is considered as an
impediment.

10. Subpublisher agrees to forward to Publisher two (2) copies of each This confirms that you will receive two
printed edition and local release containing the Compositions or any copies of each copy of sheet music and
adaptations thereof immediately upon publication and shall cause to be record release and that you will be
printed at the foot of the first page of every copy of the Compositions correctly credited.
proper copyright notice showing Publisher as copyright owner in the
Licensed Territory as well as the names of the original authors and
composers thereof.

11. Publisher hereby reserves all rights of every kind and nature not Confirming that unless something is
specifically granted to the Subpublisher herein, and the right to all fees, included in this agreement you are not
monies or other considerations derived from such reserved rights. granting the rights under this agreement
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following rights and and reserving your right to grant certain
any fees, monies or other considerations derived therefrom, except as rights.
herein provided, shall be reserved to Publisher:
A) All copyrights in the Compositions and in any adaptations,
arrangements and new lyric versions thereof throughout the world and
all rights existing under such copyrights in the licensed territory.
B) The exclusive right throughout the world to dramatise the
Compositions and to license the use and performance of such dramatic
versions.
C) The exclusive right throughout the world to make cartoon, literary and
other subsidiary versions of the Compositions and to publish and sell such
versions.
D) The exclusive right to grant licenses for the entire world for the
synchronisation of the Compositions with sound motion pictures and
television films, together with the right to grant permission for the public
performance for profit of the Compositions as contained in such sound
motion pictures and television films, if same are produced and originated
outside the Licensed Territory, and Subpublisher shall not share in any
fees received by Original Publisher in respect thereto.

12. Publisher grants to Subpublisher, who accepts for himself, his successors and You are giving the publisher the right to act on
assigns, all the powers necessary and indispensable for the protection of the your behalf but the publisher cannot take any
Compositions and of the related arrangements and translations in the Licensed legal action without telling you, even if it is to
Territory. Accordingly, Subpublisher undertakes to commence at his own protect your songs. It is important that this is
responsibility and expense, promptly informing Publisher in respect thereto, such specified, since you as a songwriter may think
judicial actions as may be required against third parties based upon violations of that they actually have the right to do that.
the rights of Publisher and/or the original authors, arrangers and translators and to
keep Publisher fully informed of any such actions or proposed actions, giving
Publisher opportunity to actively participate in such actions.

13. Subpublisher has the right to license in whole or in part any of the This gives the publisher the right to allow his
rights granted hereunder to his affiliated companies in territories other sub-publishers to collect income on his, and
than the United Kingdom and Eire. therefore your, behalf. Money collection is one
of the most important services that publishers
do for you, and you should always be aware of
the conditions through whom this is made.

14. Subpublisher shall account to Publisher for all royalties received or If you are a publisher, you are confirming
credited to Publisher. Publisher shall thereafter be responsible for that you will pay your writers what you
onward accounting and payment to third parties according to the are due. As stated in the previous cell, a
contractual obligations of the Publisher. songwriter must be 100% aware about
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how this works.

15. In any of the following events Publisher shall have the right to This confirms the circumstances under
terminate this agreement at any time forthwith in writing by registered which you could terminate the
post whereupon all rights whatsoever in any work covered by this agreement. You should always keep in
agreement shall revert to Publisher and all rights of Subpublisher to my mind what you can do to protect your
obtain or receive monies hereunder whether by way of recoupment of rights as a songwriter, and this is a very
the advance payments or otherwise whatsoever shall entirely cease:(i) If important section in that sense.
any of the sums payable by Subpublisher hereunder shall be in arrear and
remain unpaid for a period of 30 days after written notice thereof has
been sent to the Subpublisher (ii) Subpublisher shall have committed or
knowingly permitted a default or a breach of any of the terms of this
agreement.(iii) Subpublisher shall make any assignment for the benefit of
its creditors or if a meeting of its creditors be held or if it becomes
insolvent.(iv) If any order shall be made or any resolution passed for the
winding up of Subpublisher.

16. All notices, statements and other communications hereunder shall be This clarifies the way both parties must
in writing and shall be sent by cable, telex, fax or similar means of communicate if there is any information
communication and by first class mail. All notices from the Original or if there are any legal notices required
Publisher to the Subpublisher shall be deemed received on the date about the agreement.
cabled, telexed or faxed, or five (5) days after the date mailed.

17. This agreement shall be governed in accordance with English law and Confirming that British law is the
the Courts of London will be solely competent to arbitrate any and all jurisdiction of the agreement. This may of
contestations and differences arising between the parties hereto. course vary according to the country in
which the contract is stipulated.

The contract analysed seems, in the end, covering all that has been stated before, and since
there are no “Exclusive Extensions and Options” looking particularly unfavourable, this can
be indeed considered as a good example of contract. Good legal advice is always preferable,
and not just in case you are in doubt whether a publisher is trying to spoil you or not, but
before signing any kind of contract.