Music Publishing Deals Explained: Co-Pub vs Admin vs Full Publishing

The Three Types of Publishing Deals

Publishing income comes from your songs (compositions), not your recordings. When someone streams, downloads, syncs, or performs your song, the underlying composition generates royalties. A publishing deal determines who collects, administers, and owns a share of those royalties.

Full Publishing Deal

What you give up: 100% of your publisher's share (50% of total income) and often copyright ownership.

What you get: The largest advances, full-service creative support (co-writes, sync pitching, demo funding), and global collection infrastructure.

Typical split: Writer keeps 50% (writer's share), publisher keeps 50% (publisher's share). Some deals further split the publisher's share, giving the writer a "co-pub" within a full deal.

Best for: Songwriters who need significant advances and don't have their own collection infrastructure, or writers early in their career who need creative development support.

Co-Publishing Deal

What you give up: 25% of total publishing income (half of the publisher's share).

What you get: Meaningful advances, creative support, and the publisher's collection and sync pitching infrastructure, while retaining 75% of total income.

Typical split: Writer keeps 50% (writer's share) + 25% (half of publisher's share) = 75% total. Publisher keeps 25%.

Best for: Established songwriters with a track record who want publisher support but want to retain majority income. This is the most common deal structure for professional songwriters.

Administration Deal

What you give up: An admin fee of 10-20% of gross collections. You retain full ownership.

What you get: Global collection, registration, and royalty administration. Limited or no creative services, sync pitching, or advances.

Typical split: Writer keeps 80-90%. Administrator keeps 10-20% as a fee.

Best for: Self-sufficient songwriters who don't need advances or creative support and just need someone to collect their money worldwide efficiently.

Key Terms to Watch

Term length: Full and co-pub deals typically run 2-5 years (with options). Admin deals are often 1-3 years. Shorter is better for the writer.

Retention period: After the deal ends, how long does the publisher keep the songs you wrote during the term? This can range from 2 years to life of copyright. Push for the shortest retention possible.

Pipeline songs: Songs written before the deal but not yet commercially released. Some publishers try to claim these — resist this.

At-source collection: Ensure royalties are collected at the source (the country where they're earned) rather than flowing through sub-publishers who each take a cut.

How SoundDeal Analyzes Publishing Deals

Our AI evaluates publishing agreements across all three structures, benchmarking splits, advance levels, retention periods, reversion triggers, and sync approval rights against industry standards for each deal type.

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