Music Business Law: Accounting Basics, Splitting Royalty Money Between Songwriters & Publishers @Berklee_Online
Music Business Law: Accounting Basics, Splitting Royalty Money Between Songwriters & Publishers  @Berklee_Online
Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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Licensing a song for a movie or a TV show is a good way of earning revenue as a musician. But how should that money be divided? That’s the question that’s answered in this video from Music Business Law for Artists, a 12-week Berklee Online course by Valerie Lovely. If the artist in question is a band, with some of the members being writers and others not, this is where accounting really comes into play. The division of revenue can also depend on the band’s internal contracts. For example, let’s say your band is licensing a song for $1,000. That sum will be divided into two categories: $500 for the use of your band’s sound recording, and $500 for the use of your writer’s composition. The composition revenue will be divided once again in two, one half being the writer’s share, and the other half being the publisher’s share. Assuming that the producer gets 20 percent (or $50) of each share, the rest of the writers share will be divided equally between the two songwriters, and the rest of the publishing share will be divided equally by the whole band. Now for the remaining $500 in the sound recording license, the money will be divided equally between the band members. But depending on the internal agreements and contracts, the band might have to give part of their share to the producer.

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ABOUT VALERIE LOVELY:
Valerie Lovely is Assistant Professor of Music Business/Management at Berklee College of Music and a practicing transactional music attorney. Her clientele is limited exclusively to musicians, songwriters, publishers, record labels, and others with music law needs. The firm provides various transactional music law services, such as contract drafting, negotiation and explanations, copyrights, trademarks, band business evaluation reports, and other music business and legal services. Attorney Lovely also hosts a free informational website, MusicLawInfo, that provides numerous music law articles of interest to today's musicians.
Valerie has been a guest speaker, panelist, and lecturer at a variety of events sponsored by legal- and music-based organizations (American Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Berklee College of Music, Blacksun Festival, etc.). She has taught copyright law to attorneys as a member of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts faculty.
Valerie has also been a musician for most of her life. She plays several instruments, has performed in rock bands, chamber groups, wind ensembles, and studio projects, and has composed music in various styles and for use in a variety of media.

About Berklee Online:
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Music Business Law | Accounting Basics | Splitting Royalty Money Between Songwriters | Music Publishing | Sync Licensing | Berklee Online | Online Course | Course Overview | Berklee College of Music | Music Business | Valerie Lovely
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Music Business Law: Accounting Basics, Splitting Royalty Money Between Songwriters & Publishers

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