Writer's Share & Publisher's Share Explained

This post aims to provide a clear explanation of Writer's Share and Publisher's Share. When it comes to performance royalties, they are divided into Writer's Share and Publisher's Share, while mechanical royalties exclusively contribute to the Publisher's Share.

Imagine you've composed a song, making you the songwriter. As the song gains traction and starts generating royalties, these earnings are divided into two parts: Writer's Share and Publisher's Share.

The Writer's Share is directly delivered to you by your country's Performance Rights Organization (PRO). On the other hand, the Publisher's Share comes through the PROs of various countries worldwide. This portion is first routed to your publishing administrator and subsequently forwarded to you. Both of these income streams solely stem from performance royalties.

When it comes to mechanical royalties, the Publisher's Share is derived from them. These mechanical royalties are sent from your Mechanical Rights Organization (MRO) to your publishing administrator. Your publishing administrator consolidates both the Publisher's Share from performance royalties and mechanical royalties, and then sends the total sum to you.

When songwriters establish an agreement to define how earnings will be distributed, the arrangement typically pertains to the splits of the Writer's Share and Publisher's Share. It's important to emphasize that these splits relate to the earnings originating from performance and mechanical royalties, rather than involving the division of performance royalties and mechanical royalties themselves.