Wendy DayCEO/Coach, PowerPlays Coaching, LLC · Helping rappers make money with their music. Building millionaires in the urban music industry since 1992.

You're missing 50% of your Money!

9 Sept 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief exchange, Wendy Day explains that songwriters who do not have a separate publishing entity are effectively their own publishers. She emphasizes that by not formally establishing a publishing company, writers miss out on roughly half of their publishing income. Day outlines the necessary steps to become a legitimate publisher: registering a publishing company with the Secretary of State, obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN), opening a business checking account, and registering with performance rights organizations like BMI under the publisher name.

Chapters

What if they don't have a publisher? If they don't, aren't they then the publisher themselves?
They do. They are the publisher. And one thing that I— a lot of people will say, oh, I'm with BMI. Um, okay, well, what's your publisher name with BMI so that I can register that? What do you mean? I'm a writer. Yeah, you're a writer, but you're also a publisher. And you're missing out on 50% of your income if you do not take what you've done as a writer and also publish it. You are your own publisher. So you have to start a publishing company, which is registering with the Secretary of State, starting a business, getting an EIN, setting up a checking account so that it is a legitimate business.