In an industry where creativity drives the culture, understanding the business behind the music is just as important as making it. From copyright ownership and royalty collection to publishing deals and licensing, music publishing plays a crucial role in ensuring that the people behind the music are recognised and compensated for their work. We spoke to Thando Makhunga of Downtown Music Publishing Africa about the ins and outs of music publishing, the importance of protecting intellectual property and what emerging artists and songwriters need to know before signing away their rights. From navigating royalties to understanding copyright, Makhunga breaks down the business side of music and why knowing your worth is essential to building a sustainable career in the industry.
Before we being, what does you role at Downtown Music Publishing Africa entail?
Downtown Music Publishing Africa is a partner for predominantly independent record labels, other independent publishers and global publishers. We protect their rights, we do the admin on all of their copyright as well as try to find opportunities to monetise and license music in our territory. Our focus is Africa. Although we are based in South Africa, we work all across the continent. A lot of our work is working with our clients and with our partners be it CMO’s or people who want to license music and sync music. That’s a big part of what we do.
For someone who has never encountered the term “music publishing”, what exactly is music publishing, and what rights does it deal with?
A copyright speaks to two sides. One side is the master rights, which traditionally would be controlled by the record label but it can also be the person who produced in their studio. Someone can be a bedroom producer and own the master rights. On the publishing side, it typically refers to the lyrics, the melody and the composition. We administer that. Normally on publishing there are a coupe of ways you can earn royalties. It can be through the lyrics themselves. So, if you see someone posting a visualiser with the lyrics on YouTube, that can earn royalties. You also have sync licensing which is any commercial usage of the composition, the melody or the lyrics in an advert, film, TV etc. You also have the publishing royalty which is the performance right, performance royalty and mechanical or digital royalties. There are a number of way you can earn royalties through publishing and we administer that for a variety of clients and their catalogues.
When a songwriter creates a song, who actually owns the copyright and how is that ownership determined?
Everyone who contributes to the creation of a work is entitled to copyright. How much of the copyright you claim is determined by the split sheet which is agreed upon by the people involved in the creation of the song. In some instances, the producer of the song may claim that the song would not exist without them so they would like 50% of the copyright. The vocalist on the song may be someone popular and they would claim 25% of the copyright on the song. Then let’s say the songwriter of the hook would then claim 15% of the copyright. Again, everyone who contributed to the creation of the work is entitled to copyright but ultimately, it comes down to the split sheet.
Royalties are one of the most confusing parts of the music business. What are the different types of royalties a songwriter can earn, and who is responsible for collecting each one?
For a songwriter specifically, you would be participating on the publishing side and not so much on the master right side. You would get performance royalties, mechanical royalties, digital royalties and needltime royalties, which are administered by SAMPRA, and sync licensing. With anything you create ou should be able to monetise from brand partnerships, campaigns etc.
Can you explain the difference between the various types of publishing deals?
Let’s say you have a company called XYZ Publishing. You would do a business-to-business agreement. That means you would own your publishing but you would do an admin agreement where Downtown Music Publishing would administer your rights globally.
Let’s say that you realise that most of your music is being consumed in South Korea and you need a partner in South Korea to collect all of your royalties, you could do an exclusive agreement.
As a single composer, you could do an exclusive agreement. This would see Downtown Music Publishing administer your catalogue but because you are doing more of the work, the admin fees would be negotiated differently. You could also say that you are giving Downtown Music Publishing an EP or a song. This would be called a deal of assignment.
What should an emerging artist understand before signing away or licensing their publishing rights?
If you are going to sign away your rights, you better be getting paid a lot of money for it. For example, you may be working with a particular company where they provide you with resources like a studio. As a result, anything created under that agreement is a buyout agreement. This means you will be receiving a salary in return for forfeiting your rights. A lot of the times people who work on films and TV productions sign their rights away because the producer of the production may want to license the show to a broadcaster without having to consult the people who created the works. Imagine your show gets picked up by a Disney and now you are out of the conversation of royalties because you signed your rights away. However, there is a way for you to retain your rights. All you need to do is claim your rights. You don’t need to have a huge catalogue to claim your rights. The first step would be becoming a member of SAMRO. You may not be earning a lot of money but at least there is a CMO that knows who you are. They can assign you an IPI and all of your works will then be derived to you.
How does copyright protection actually work when someone uses a song without permission?
Once we are aware that there has been an infringement, we would issue a take down. There is normally a penalty fee for using that IP without permission. There is also a retrospective license if they want to continue using the work. There are a lot of steps that business affairs and legal teams deal with to assist on that side. It can get a a bit messy. For the most part, if you have used something, we want to help you license it correctly. We will normally negotiate so you can use the IP in a way that credits the original owners.