Administration Agreement
A deal where a publisher or admin handles song registrations, royalty collection, and licenses — without ever owning your copyright. In a co-publishing or full publishing deal, the publisher receives an ownership share.
Reference
Music publishing glossary.
Get plain-English definitions for every term you'll encounter on royalty statements or registration forms — your cheat sheet for industry jargon.
102 publishing and royalty terms, defined in plain English — no jargon explaining jargon. For the organizations themselves, see the CMO directory.
A
Advance
An upfront payment from a publisher to a songwriter that gets recouped from later royalties. Publishing administrators like Found Royalties usually offer no advances — in return, you retain 100% ownership and pay a far lower commission.
Affiliate
A publisher or songwriter with formal membership in a PRO or CMO. A society won't register your works or send payment until you're one of its affiliates.
AKA (Also Known As)
Any other name appearing in a writer's credits — legal name, stage name, or former group name. Societies connect all AKAs to one IPI number.
ASCAP
Along with BMI, one of the two major US performing rights organizations. It collects performance royalties from public song uses including radio, TV, streaming, and live venues.
Assignment
A legal change in copyright ownership from one party to another. Administration is different because the ownership stays put.
B
Backend Deal
A payment arrangement giving someone a later percentage of royalties rather than an upfront flat fee.
Black Box Royalties
Money earned when a song was used yet left unpaid because the work was registered incorrectly or no writer match was found. Societies keep these royalties only briefly, then redistribute them permanently.
Blanket License
One license sold by a PRO that lets a radio station, venue, or streaming service publicly perform the PRO's whole catalog.
BMI
Broadcast Music, Inc. — together with ASCAP, one of the two major US performing rights organizations you can actually join.
Broadcast Mechanical Royalty
A mechanical royalty triggered by a reproduction made for broadcasting. Only a few territories commonly pay it.
Buyout (Sync Buyout)
A sync license paid through one flat fee, with no continuing royalty. Common in ads and low-budget productions.
C
Catalog
Every song that a writer or publisher owns or administers — registered or not.
Chain of Title
A written record tracing each song share from the original writers through later assignments or inheritances.
CISAC
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers — the umbrella linking performing rights societies so reciprocal agreements can work.
Clearance
Securing legal permission before music airs in a sample, cover, or sync placement.
CMO (Collective Management Organization)
A society collecting and distributing royalties for many rights holders together — including PROs, mechanical societies, and neighboring-rights bodies.
Co-Administration
Two or more publishers or admins representing separate shares in one song, usually because co-writers signed with different companies.
Co-Publishing Deal
The writer retains the writer's share while sharing ownership of the publisher's share with a publishing company, typically in exchange for an advance.
Co-Writer
Someone whose original contribution includes lyrics, melody, or both, giving them ownership of a composition share.
Composer
Whoever creates a song's music — melody, harmony, and arrangement.
Composition
The underlying song — melody, lyrics, and structure — rather than any one recording.
Compulsory License
A US legal mechanism allowing anyone to record and release a cover of an already-released song without permission, provided they pay the statutory mechanical rate.
Content ID
YouTube's automatic matching tool. When a claim is correct, ad revenue reaches the rights holder; if unmatched, it goes nowhere.
Controlled Composition Clause
Language in some recording contracts that limits what the label pays in mechanical royalties for the artist's own songs, often below the statutory rate.
Copyright Office
The US agency that formally registers a composition or recording. This is separate from — and unnecessary for — registration with a PRO, the MLC, or an administrator.
Copyright Term
The period before copyright expires. In the US it generally runs through the last surviving author's life, plus 70 years.
Cover Song
A new recording of an already released composition. Composition royalties continue going to the original writers; the cover artist owns only the new master.
Cue Sheet
A time-coded record listing all music in a film or TV episode. PROs rely on cue sheets to pay performance royalties from sync placements.
CWR (Common Works Registration)
The standard electronic format publishers send to PROs for work registration — titles, writers, splits, and IDs in one structured batch.
D
Deal Memo
A brief document stating an agreement's main points, signed ahead of or in place of a complete formal contract.
Deposit Copy
Sheet music, audio, or lyrics submitted as the work copy during Copyright Office registration.
Derivative Work
A remix, translation, interpolation, or other new creation adapted from an existing work. Generally requires the original owner's permission.
Digital Performance Right
The payment right triggered by digital performance of a sound recording. SoundExchange collects it in the US.
Direct License
An agreement made straight between the music user and rights holder, outside a PRO's blanket license.
Distributor
A company that sends recordings to streaming platforms and collects master royalties. It does not handle composition royalties.
DPD (Digital Phonorecord Delivery)
The law's name for a permanent song download.
DRM (Digital Rights Management)
Tools that limit how digital files can be copied. Unrelated to collecting royalties.
DSP (Digital Service Provider)
Listener platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
E
Exclusive License
Permission giving one licensee sole use of a work in the stated manner for the term of the license.
Exploitation
The industry's standard word for commercially using a song. It simply means the song is out there earning.
F
Featured Artist
The recording's credited main performer. They receive master and neighboring-rights royalties for that performance.
Fixation
The legal point at which copyright eligibility begins — once a work is captured tangibly.
G
Grand Rights
Rights for music performed within a dramatic theatrical work, licensed separately from the small rights PROs handle.
Gross vs. Net Royalties
Gross is everything collected before fees. Net is what reaches the writer after society cuts and any admin commission.
H
Harry Fox Agency (HFA)
A US agency licensing mechanical rights. The MLC assumed blanket streaming mechanicals in 2021; HFA remains active for downloads and physical.
I
Interpolation
Using a newly recorded version of an existing song's melody or lyric instead of sampling its original audio. Still needs composition clearance.
IPI Number
Interested Parties Information number — the unique identifier each songwriter and publisher receives from a PRO.
ISRC
International Standard Recording Code — a unique 12-character code attached to one recording.
ISWC
International Standard Musical Work Code — a composition's unique code, used across all recordings of that song.
J
Joint Work
A composition in which two or more writers meant their contributions to form one song. Each holds an undivided interest.
L
Lead Sheet
Stripped-down song notation showing lyrics, chords, and melody.
Lyricist
The credited writer of a song's words.
M
Master Recording
A song's finished audio. That master carries a copyright apart from the composition being recorded.
Master Rights
Rights in one specific recording, rather than publishing rights covering the underlying composition.
Master Use License
Approval to place a particular recording in an ad, show, or film — the master-side match for a sync license.
Matching
How a CMO links reported use with the right registered writer and song. Missing registration means no match and no payment.
Mechanical License
Authorization to distribute and reproduce a composition through a stream, download, or physical record.
Mechanical Royalty
The royalty owed to publishers and writers for every reproduction of a composition, including each on-demand stream.
Metadata
A song and recording's identifying details — writers, splits, ISWC, ISRC, title. Inaccurate metadata is the leading cause of unpaid royalties.
Micro-Sync
A low-fee sync license for smaller uses like independent creator videos or social content.
MLC
The Mechanical Licensing Collective — the US organization that provides blanket mechanical licenses and collects streaming-service mechanicals.
Music Publisher
A business owning or administering composition rights. Traditional publishers receive an ownership share; administrators do not.
N
Needle Drop
Placing an existing song recording in a show or film instead of commissioning original score.
Neighboring Rights
Payments to a recording's performers and master owner when it plays publicly — especially outside the US.
Non-Exclusive License
Permission that can be given to several licensees simultaneously for the same use.
Notice of Intention (NOI)
A formal notice filed before releasing a cover under compulsory license when the original publisher cannot be identified.
O
Ownership Split
Each publisher's and writer's percentage in a composition. Together, all parties must total 100%.
P
Performance Royalty
Money due for public performance — radio, streams, live shows, TV. PROs collect it.
Phonorecord
In US copyright law, any digital or physical form holding a sound recording.
PRO
Performing Rights Organization — a society handling performance-royalty collection. Each songwriter should affiliate with exactly one.
Producer Points
The producer's royalty portion of master recording revenue, independent of any composition credit.
Public Domain
Works outside copyright protection that anyone may use without paying or obtaining a license.
Public Performance
A composition played beyond a personal, private setting — venue, store, radio, or streaming platform.
Publisher's Share
Performance royalties directed to the publisher or publishing administrator, generally half the total, paired with the writer's share.
Publishing Administration
Worldwide registration, monitoring, and royalty collection for a songwriter's catalog, while leaving copyright ownership with the writer.
R
Reciprocal Agreement
Two CMOs in separate countries agree to collect and distribute royalties for one another.
Recoupment
Repaying an advance from a writer's later royalties before releasing additional earnings.
Registration (Work Registration)
Submitting a song's identifiers, splits, writers, and title to a PRO, the MLC, and other societies. Without it, streams may produce no payment.
Repertoire
All songs represented by a publisher, PRO, or society.
Reversion
A provision that restores composition ownership to the original writer once a condition is met. Unnecessary in administration agreements, where no ownership was surrendered.
Rights Holder
Any label, publisher, co-writer, or writer legally owning part of a recording or composition.
Royalty Statement
A detailed record of a writer's earnings for a given period, separated by type, territory, source, and song.
Royalty-Free
An often-misread label. It usually means one license fee permits unlimited use, not that no royalties were ever owed.
S
Sample Clearance
Permission to include part of an existing recording in another song — requiring approval for both the master and the composition.
SESAC
The smaller third US performing rights organization. Privately owned and invitation-only.
Session Musician
A hired recording performer who receives no songwriting credit.
Songview
ASCAP and BMI's shared public database of registered song splits, publishers, and writers.
SoundExchange
A US organization collecting master-recording digital performance royalties for satellite radio and non-interactive webcasting.
Split Sheet
A session document where every co-writer signs off on each person's composition ownership percentage.
Statutory Rate
The mechanical royalty amount set by government for compulsory licenses.
Sub-Publisher
A foreign territory's local publisher representing a catalog within that country.
Sync License
Authorization to combine a composition with video, games, ads, TV, or film. The recording requires a separate master-use license.
T
Term (Deal Term)
The period an agreement remains active.
Territory
The country or area covered by a royalty payment, registration, or license.
Third-Party Administrator
A business managing catalog registrations and royalty collections for a writer while acquiring no ownership.
Topliner
A songwriter adding lyrics and melody to a ready-made beat. Topliners are full co-writers.
U
Underlying Work
The source composition behind a derivative use — the song being covered, interpolated, or sampled.
Unmatched Royalties
Royalties held by a CMO because it can't reliably link a use to a registered writer. The biggest part of the industry's black box.
W
Waterfall (Recoupment Waterfall)
A sequence directing royalty revenue toward several advances or debts before any money goes to the writer.
Work-for-Hire
A deal making the commissioning company the outright copyright owner instead of the actual writer.
Writer's Share
The songwriter's direct portion of performance royalties. It cannot be assigned away — it stays with whoever wrote the song.
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