Answers/Glossary/Self-publishing
Glossary · Publishing
Self-publishing
Self-publishing in music means owning and administering your own compositions rather than signing them to a publisher. In practice it means registering your own publisher entity with ASCAP or BMI and registering your works directly with The MLC.
Self-publishing is the default state for an independent songwriter, whether or not they realise it. If you have never signed a publishing agreement, you own 100% of your compositions. What varies is whether you are actually collecting on them.
Doing it properly in the United States is a short list of registrations, and the whole thing costs less than most people assume.
- Join a PRO as a writer. Free at both. BMI songwriter affiliation costs nothing and ASCAP writer membership costs nothing, per their own pages, checked 1 September 2026.
- Register a publisher entity with the same PRO. Apply for it at the same time as your ASCAP writer account and it is free; added on its own later it is a $50 one-time non-refundable fee. BMI charges a one-time publisher processing fee but no longer publishes the amount. This is what makes the publisher share payable to you, so do it with your writer application rather than after it.
- Register with The MLC. Free, no commission, and it pays digital mechanicals about 75 days after each monthly usage period, with a $5 US ACH minimum.
- Register recordings with SoundExchange. Free, and it covers the recording side rather than publishing, but it belongs on the same afternoon's to-do list.
What self-publishing does not get you is foreign collection, sync pitching, or anyone chasing money on your behalf. That is what a publishing administrator or a publisher sells.
The misunderstanding: that a publisher account requires an incorporated business. At BMI you can affiliate as an individual publisher without forming a company, and BMI states directly that a new songwriter will not need to set up a publishing company at all.
This is the route I took with my own catalogue — not legal advice, just what worked.
Related terms
- Publisher shareThe publisher share is the half of a composition's performance and mechanical royalties that belongs to the publisher of the…
- Music publisherA music publisher is a company that owns or controls copyright shares in musical compositions and exploits them — registering…
- Publishing administratorA publishing administrator collects a songwriter's publishing royalties worldwide for a commission without taking ownership of…
- The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective)The MLC is the non-profit organisation designated under the Music Modernization Act to administer the United States blanket…
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
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