Music Publishing Administrators : Protectors of Artists Rights and Revenues

In the music industry, intellectual property (IP) acts as the cornerstone that provides the legal foundation for creators (such as performers, composers, songwriters, or producers), to be properly compensated for their work. In today’s world, where technology advances more rapidly than legislature can keep up, proper music rights management is imperative, and consequently, the need for music publishing administrators. “Music rights management is the process of protecting the intellectual property rights of musicians, composers, and other stakeholders in the music industry” (Yellowbrick, 2023). Without this essential branch of the industry, the motivation to innovate and produce original music diminishes, as anyone, not necessarily musicians, would be able to copy, sample, interpolate, or distribute original music – which would cause significant financial loss for artists and kill creativity. These rights are primarily governed by copyright law and international treaties like the Berne Convention, and the revenue gathered from them sustain careers born out of intellectual property.

Music publishing administrators (MPAs) are a crucial part of this highly important music rights management sector. They play a multi-faceted role, specializing in helping artists or publishing companies with licensing, royalty collection, and artist payments. They register works with performing rights organizations (PRO’s) like ASCAP, PRS for Music, PPL, and others internationally. They then track the usage of the music across streaming and broadcasting platforms – TV, radio, commercial establishments, public venues, etc. Based on the tracking data, they collect royalties from all the sources, and then distribute it across musicians registered with them. They are also responsible for enforcing these rights and ensuring that these royalties are paid. It is important to note that publishers differ from publishing administrators; while publishers often take some level of ownership of the copyright, publishing administrators are paid in commissions – typically about 10-20% (Landry, 2025). This percentage depends on the amount of services provided to artists. For example, publishers with only administrative roles charge less than those who also provide promotional services (Indeed Editorial Team, 2025). MPAs have therefore become the attractive option to creators, as it enables them to retain ownership and control of their art, while still receiving professional help. Some examples of MPAs include Songtrust, Kobalt, Sentric, TuneCore publishing, etc.

While there are no formal requirements to pursue a career in music publishing administration, most employers expect a basic educational background and experience demonstrating an understanding of the music industry. A role specific degree in music rights management can be considered essential to excel in this field. These courses include music business, event and festival planning or artistic development, but employers may also consider applicants with degrees in business administration, accounting, or law (Indeed Editorial Team, 2025). Experience is also considered a requirement, as music publishers usually get their start doing entry level work as jobs or internships at music publishing companies, PRO’s or record companies. Since understanding music licensing is of utmost importance for someone looking to establish themselves in this line of work, many find work as licensing representatives before shifting over to music publishing. Others start within a branch of music publishing, namely Artists and Repertoire (A&R), who are the frontline team who engage with artists and their management teams (Farris, 2020). A&R is divided into scouting, A&R management, and song plugging, areas in which experience can be greatly beneficial to one’s portfolio. Organizations usually look for two to five years of experience in such roles, before considering candidates for suitable full-time publishing careers (Indeed Editorial Team, 2025). Being an MPA is hence not usually considered the final profession in these careers. As mentioned previously, the most important trait to develop for entering this line of work is to fully understand music licensing. This entails an in-depth understanding of basic concepts such as copyright law, including composition vs. master rights, international treaties such as the Berne Convention (a set of legal principles for the protection of original work), revenue streams (such as performance and mechanical royalties), and legal contracts. It would also be beneficial to develop organizational skills, technical proficiency in music publishing software and databases, and strong communication skills (Yardstick, 2024).

The day-to-day work of a music publishing administrator involves jobs such as handling copyright registration, royalty collection on the behalf of artists, and the enforcement of intellectual property rights on behalf of clients, hence combining legal and financial responsibilities in the music business ecosystem. Copyright registration means handling the registration of each musical composition with a PRO. This involves the preparation and submission of metadata (song details, writer and publisher splits, etc.) so that royalties can be accurately tracked and then distributed. They also provide creative and administrative support to composers and songwriters. Good publishing administrators are also expected to do market research, by analyzing consumer preferences and market trends (McGoran, 2024). Other duties involve verifying that the material is free of copyright infringement and facilitating for compositions to be transcribed to print (Lau, n.d.). In short, the administrator acts as the intermediate between artists and external partners. Throughout the day, they carry the duty of responding to licensing inquiries, negotiating sync deals, and coordinating with publishers to clear copyright infringements. For example, when a composition is uploaded on YouTube by a third party with no credit or authorization, it violates the copyright laws, and the duty to claim the video for false usage falls upon the publishing administrator.

With work that follows complex laws and revenue streams, financial and legal issues are common in the publishing industry. Within the music publishing sector, the publishing administration specialize in dealing with these problems. This holds especially for collecting royalties for artists. There are a couple reasons why artists need a dedicated publishing administrator for this role. One of the main issues arise from Collective Management Organizations (CMO’s), including PRO’s, which, while primarily responsible for the collection of royalties, are not necessarily incentivized to distribute the money to a particular songwriter, leading to artists not always receiving all the royalties due. “Without proper control from the songwriter’s representative side, a sizable portion of royalties gets lost in the publishing “black box” – a pile of unclaimed or wrongly attributed payments” (Pastukhov, 2019). A large chunk of the reasons for this can be attributed to music metadata issues, human error and disorganization, disputed claims, and fraudulent royalty claims. Being involved in resolving such legal battles between various entities (such as music labels, publishers, and streaming platforms), all trying to settle for a higher cut of the revenue, presents its own task. There is also the revenue from the international market. Pastukhov (2019) notes that CMO’s around the world work together to exchange royalties on paper, but due to similar publishing issues, artists are then required to register with all the CMO’s to get 100% of their royalties. Dealing with copyright law is a legal matter of its own, and administrators are involved in all the complex aspects that it entails – sampling, interpolating, and unauthorized use. They are involved in aspects of copyright management, from granting permission to use a piece of music for sampling or interpolating, with proper licensing, to ensuring that the artist’s rights are protected in the cases of copyright infringement. This responsibility therefore involves both sides of the deal, the use of the work by an external party, and the ownership of the work by the original songwriter and publisher; the administrators from both sides cooperate to settle these matters.

On the promotional and marketing side, music publishing administrators work generally in a B2B (business-to-business) context, since they target relatively small-scale artists under independent publishers or songwriter companies, and not the final consumers. Besides this, they also cater to independent songwriters and composers. Administrators are hence only indirectly involved in promoting and marketing music, since they manage these industry relationships. The main challenging aspect of this profession is to track the accurate distribution of music rights, and consequently, music royalties, since part of their task is to ensure that artists receive all their dues. For CMOs, the inefficiency in distributing royalties and rights can be attributed primarily to multiple copyrights being associated with one body of work. The master (or sound) recording rights, and the composition rights, and there can be multiple individuals credited within each (songwriters and performers are all individually credited). These difficulties are not helped by complexities stemming from each country operating under their own legal and institutional framework to regulate copyright, often differently defining how music may be used, how rights holders are compensated, and which CMOs carry these responsibilities (Arenal et al., 2024). Since a lot of their work is reliant on such variable factors, inaccurate metadata further exacerbates these issues, and MPAs step in to fulfil the role of maintaining accurate metadata, reducing the proportion of royalties lost to the aforementioned ‘black box’. According to Rauman (2021), a significant proportion of royalty payments are often not received for lengthy periods. Even worse, royalties are frequently delivered to the wrong party altogether or never delivered to anyone at all. The first cause for these problems, identified by Arenal et al. (2024), is that of low data quality, limited metadata, and the lack of accountability. They expand on this further, listing the first step to a potential solution being the correct identification of music creators and rightsholders. In this era, as digital streaming is on a steady incline, metadata has emerged as a critical idea – since it is essentially an organized list of credits on a composition. Digital music distribution has also led to an increased number of collaborations between performers, even internationally, and managing the metadata for such a large set of creators proves to be extremely challenging without the presence of MPAs.

With the many nuances and complexities surrounding music rights management, major challenges as previously mentioned are nothing new. Technology develops faster than legislature can keep up, and these problems are likely to worsen – especially with the advent of Artificial Intelligence; the traditional copyright management laws and enforcement are increasingly under strain. As we enter this relatively new age for the music industry, it is important that there are organizations that are for the artists and not driven solely by capitalistic gains. MPAs are one of the key players in this field, as they offer artists options to protect their intellectual property. Music creators, particularly independents, are thereby increasingly gravitating towards MPAs because they focus on administrative support, and do not take ownership of any copyrights. Hence, the market for MPAs only continue to widen, with organizations such as Songtrust and Kobalt retaining solid reputations for how they handle their employees and clients. On the career page on the Kobalt website, they boast a good work-life balance, wellness programs, learning opportunities, etc. to facilitate a healthy mindset for their employees. However, this profession is mostly a career stepping stone for most in the industry, as aspiring music publishers may find work at independent publishing companies like Round Hill Music, Sony/ATV, Warner/Chappell, Kobalt and many others that offer administration roles (Berklee College of Music, n.d.), or roles in CMOs and other such organizations.

In conclusion, the role of music publishing administrators has become increasingly vital in the modern music industry. As rapid technological advancements and the digital streaming standard continue to transform the industry, the complexities of managing music rights grow, making MPAs the key to securing adequate compensation for creatives. These industry professionals undertake the job of ensuring that royalties are tracked accurately and protect intellectual property. By organizing and handling metadata and working with collective management organizations, the mechanical royalties from music streaming that end up in the ‘black box’ are reduced, and consequently, this system runs smoother. MPAs are set apart by their ability to support and administrate artists without taking ownership of their music, rendering more control for artists over their own music. Their expertise in copyright enforcement, music licensing, royalty tracking and collection, and catalog management will continue to play a huge role in trying to keep the industry fair and transparent. For musicians, it can be easy to feel disheartened by the business side of the industry, since it does not often prioritize them. However, there are steps in the right direction, as evidenced by the Music Modernization Act (2018), which updates the copyright law to make statutory licensing fairer for creators and more efficient for digital music providers. Such changes, along with the growing importance of MPAs, points to a shift towards prioritizing artists. As the industry continues to evolve, artists can always turn to MPAs to aid in adapting to these changes and surviving in the business.

Bibliography

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