Randy Poe - The New Songwriters Guide to Music Publishing

The New Songwriter's Guide to

MUSIC

PUBLISHING

3RD EDITION

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
TO MAKE THE BEST PUBLISHING DEALS
FOR YOUR SONGS

RANDY POE

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The New Songwriters Guide to Music Publishing. Copyright 2006 by Randy Poe. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writers Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. Third edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Poe, Randy
The new songwriters guide to music publishing / by Randy Poe.3rd ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Music publishing. Rev. ed. 1997.
ISBN 1-58297-383-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58297-650-1 (EPUB)

1. Popular musicWriting and publishing. I. Poe, Randy. Music Publishing. II Title.

MT67.P75 2005
070.5794dc22 2005020237
CIP

Edited by Amy Schell
Interior designed by Sandy Conopeotis Kent
Cover designed by Claudean Wheeler
Production coordinated by Robin Richie

DEDICATION

For Mina and Riley

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I couldnt have written the first, second, or third editions of this book without the input of a number of people. Many thanks go to the following: Robin Ahrold, Connie Ambrosch-Ashton, April Anderson, Ed Arrow, Lew Bachman, Pat Baird, Marilyn Bergman, Jim Bessman, Kevin Bowe, Del Bryant, Steve Day, Roger Deitz, Bob Fead, Arlene Fishbach, Gary Ford, Jane Friedman, Dr. Betty Gipson, Morton Gould, Ellie Greenwich, Julia Groh, Peter Guralnick, Rupert Holmes, Dave Jasen, Ellen Bligh Jones, Jai Josefs, Michael Kerker, Lily Kohn, Bob Leone, Lou Levy, Irv Lichtman, Aaron Lynn, Helen Mallory, Tom McCaffrey, Bob Merlis, Frank Military, Linda Newmark, Norman Odlum, Brendan Okrent, Ralph Peer II, Doc Pomus, Scott Porterfield, Frances W. Preston, Rundi Ream, Pat Rogers, Phyllis R. Rosenberg, Gary Roth, Jeffrey S. Sacharow, Charles J. Sanders, Rick Sanjek, Jerry Schilling, Joan Schulman, Karen Sherry, Alison Smith, Andrew Solt, Greg Sowders, Kathy Spanberger, Al Staehely, Jim Steinblatt, Jane Stevens, Ann Sweeney, William Velez, Cynthia Weil, Bobby Weinstein, George David Weiss, Terry Wood-ford, and Claudean Wheeler.

Special thanks, as always, to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the day job. At twenty years and counting, its still a thrill getting to hang out with my childhood (and adulthood) heroes on an almost daily basis.

Julie Wesling Whaley edited the first and second editions of the book. This time around, Amy Schell handled that duty with a combination of skill, diplomacy, and constant encouragement. I couldnt have done it without her.

Also, thanks to my father and mother, Bill and Marjorie Poe; my sister, Linda Young; my brother-in-law, Gene Yasuda (the real writer in the family); and my mother-in-law, Kayoko Yasuda.

Very special thanks and lots of love to my wife, Mina, and to my son, Riley, for putting up with my many years of late nights in front of the computer.

Finally, I want to thank the late Sammy Cahn. He was, without question, one of the greatest lyricists of the twentieth century. His offer to write the foreword to the first edition of this book back in 1990 helped to give a first-time authors work a real touch of class. I am eternally grateful.

AUTHOR BIO

Randy Poe is the president of Leiber & Stoller Music Publishing, a company whose copyrights include such classic hits as Jailhouse Rock, Kansas City, Love Potion #9, Spanish Harlem, and Stand By Me. For five years, Poe was Executive Director of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is a Grammy-nominated record producer, and author of Squeeze My Lemon: A Collectionof Classic Blues Lyrics. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

When Randy Poe, who is almost like a son to me, called and asked if I would write a foreword to a book he had written, I was more than happy to oblige. Music publishing is a unique and fascinating part of what words and music are all about. I have vivid and lasting memories of music publishers. For instance, one of the very first music publishers I ever met was a gentleman called Joe Davis. His office was in the Roseland building the famed Roseland of the Dime-a-Dance Ballroom. Joe Daviss office couldnt have been more than two tiny rooms. On the wall there was a sign that I can still see. It simply read, A contract a day keeps the landlord away. I am sure it did then and I am sure that it does today.

From the Roseland building, I next encountered the DeSylva, Brown & Henderson building on the northeast corner of 49th Street. An amazing number of publishing companies filled this building, and on a hot New York day, before air conditioning, with all the windows open, you could hear the din of all the Tonk pianos going at the same time. (I often wonder if the phrase Honky-Tonk comes from the piano of the name?)

As time went on, the publishers moved from the east corner of 49th Street to the now famed Brill Building on the northwest corner of 49th and Broadway. In time came Radio City, and again the publishers moved.

So, now that you know about where they came from, what about them? Well, the publishers I used to know were all the most marvelous and wonderful and colorful people. The songwriters I knew then were (well, most of them) naive and romantic and totally involved with creating words and music totally uninvolved with the business behind the management of their songs. This was the publishers domain.

And it was a joyful and rewarding business, especially when you came up with a hit for the publisher. The songwriter then (and maybe now as well) signed whatever contract was placed before him. He was so happy about having a publisher take his song, he didnt stop to think that maybe he was being taken as well.

The early contracts between a writer and his publisher were seemingly rather simple, but they often contained many traps in the small print that benefitted the publisher. It was only after The Songwriters Guild came along that many of the injustices were eliminated.

This book is an absolute guide to avoiding such problems, a guide to the proper procedures for signing a music publishing contract, and for understanding what the terms of that contract should be. Unfortunately, the neophyte writer is seldom in a position to ask for or to dictate any terms. But, assuming the publisher really wants your song, then you are in an enviable position providing you understand the terms you should be asking for. This book explains those terms to you. I really wish there was such a guide book around when I started.