Music Publishing Explained: What Every Independent Artist Needs to Know

Ole Dreyer has been in the Danish music industry since the first wave of punk in 1977. He managed Dizzy Miss Lizzy. He started the legendary Copenhagen venue Rust. He has sat on Koda's board for 15 years. And he will tell you plainly: publishing is a penny business.

That does not mean it is a small business. It means every single penny matters -- and most independent artists are leaving pennies everywhere.

The Song Is the First Right

Ole's 40-year career arc gives him unusual clarity on how publishing actually works. His core message is simple: without the song, there is no music business.

"There's no publisher without a song. And there's no music business without the song. This is the first right."

If you wrote a song, you own a copyright. That copyright has value every time someone plays, performs, covers, or syncs your song. Publishing is the business of making sure you get paid for all of it.

Where Does the Money Actually Flow?

Here's the chain, simplified:

You (songwriter) → Publisher → Collection Society (like Koda, ASCAP, PRS) → Streaming Platform / Broadcaster / Venue → Back to you (minus fees at each step)

Every link in that chain takes a cut. A publisher typically takes 15-25% of your publishing income. Collection societies take an administrative fee. The platform keeps its share before paying out. By the time money reaches you, it's been through three or four hands.

That's why Ole calls it a penny business. The amounts per play are tiny. But across thousands of plays, dozens of syncs, radio spins, and live performances -- those pennies compound into real money.

What a Publisher Actually Does

A publisher's job is to exploit your copyrights. That sounds aggressive, but it means:

• Sync placements: Getting your song into films, TV series, commercials, and games. This is where the real money is for most songwriters.
• Cover versions: Pitching your song to other artists. When someone else records your song, you earn publishing royalties on their version.
• Collection: Making sure every territory, every platform, and every use case is actually paying you. This is the unglamorous, essential work. It took Koda two years to license iTunes, over a year for Spotify, and eight years for YouTube.
• Administration: Registering your works correctly so collection societies can match plays to payments.

Without a publisher, you're responsible for all of this yourself. That's doable if you have one or two songs. At scale, it becomes a full-time job.

Do You Need a Publisher?

If you're an independent artist just starting out: probably not yet. Register your songs with your local collection society (Koda in Denmark, ASCAP or BMI in the US, PRS in the UK). That covers your performance royalties from streaming and radio.

If your catalog is growing, if you're getting sync interest, or if you want someone actively pitching your music -- that's when a publisher earns their cut.

The key question: is someone else going to work your catalog harder than you can? If yes, the publisher's share is worth it. If no, keep it yourself and handle admin through your collection society.

Why This Matters If You Run a Studio

Understanding publishing helps you understand what your clients value when they book studio time -- and how to serve them better.

Your clients are songwriters. They come in to create copyrights -- whether they think of it that way or not. When you can point a client toward their local collection society, explain how sync placements work, or help them understand what a publisher does, you become more than a room with microphones. You become the studio serious creators come back to.

Key Takeaways

• Publishing is infrastructure, not glamor. The unglamorous work of licensing, collection, and administration is what makes songwriting financially viable.
• Register with your collection society. This is the single most important step. If you haven't done it, you're leaving money uncollected right now.
• Every penny matters. A single stream pays fractions of a cent. But consistent catalog income across platforms, territories, and use cases adds up. Treat it like compound interest.

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