Songwriting Split Calculator: Writer Share, Publisher Share and What Each Person Collects

By Boboy Watson·Last verified August 31, 2026·Runs in your browser

The short answer

A songwriting split divides 100% of the composition between contributors. Each contributor's share then splits again into a writer share and a publisher share, roughly half each, which ASCAP or BMI pay out separately. If nobody has registered a publisher entity for a share, that half is not paid to anyone.

Enter each contributor's writing percentage and see what actually lands where — because the writer share and the publisher share are claimed separately, and the publisher half is the one people forget to register for.

How many writers?

Performance royalty to divide (USD)

Enable JavaScript to run the split. The worked example below covers the arithmetic without it.

## Why one split becomes two numbers A songwriting split divides 100% of the **composition** between the people who wrote it. That is the number everyone argues about in the room. It is not the number that gets paid. Every writer's share splits again into a **writer share** and a **publisher share** — roughly half each — and ASCAP and BMI pay those two halves to two different account types. The writer share goes to your writer account automatically. The publisher share is paid only to a registered publisher entity. If no publisher entity has claimed it, it is not paid to you, and it is not held for you either. | What you agreed | What ASCAP or BMI pays it to | What happens if you skipped it | |---|---|---| | 50% of the composition | 25% to your writer account | Paid automatically | | | 25% to your publisher account | Not paid to anyone | That is the single most expensive piece of paperwork most independent writers never do. ## The rules a split sheet has to satisfy 1. The percentages total exactly 100%. Not 99, not 101. Anything else stalls at The MLC and at your PRO. 2. Every contributor is listed by legal name, not artist name, because that is the name on their ASCAP or BMI account. 3. Every contributor's PRO and IPI/CAE number is on the sheet, because that is how the registrations get matched to each other. 4. Everyone signs, before the song comes out. A split sheet is trivial to agree before a song does anything and close to impossible after it does something. 5. The same numbers get registered at ASCAP or BMI **and** at The MLC. If the two registrations disagree, the money is held rather than paid. A split sheet is not a registration. It is the document you register from. See [how to fill out a split sheet](/how-to-fill-out-a-split-sheet/) for every field, and [when to do a split sheet](/when-to-do-a-split-sheet/) for the timing. *I am an artist who has had to fix a bad split years later, not a lawyer. For a song with real money on it, get a music attorney to look at the paperwork.*

Get the paperwork done in one afternoon

The Zero to Beat Society walks through registration, splits and release paperwork step by step — with the templates and checklists already filled in.

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