Words: Chuck Fishman
In previous parts of this guide, I've mentioned that it's important to capture mechanical performance and mechanical royalties from your songs when they are streamed by major music services and played on radio and other broadcasts. If you've decided to forgo a record label for your release and want to self-release instead, the first step is to set up publishing.
Publishing your own music
You can't capture 100% of performance and mechanical royalties - the share for the publisher and the share for the songwriter - without publishing your songs yourself.
To set up as a songwriter, you need to become affiliated with a Publishing Rights Organisation (PRO). In the US you would join either BMI or ASCAP, and in the UK songwriters usually register with PRS - for a complete list of copyright collection societies worldwide, click here. However, being the songwriter on a release will only give you 50% of the royalty share, the publishers get the other half.
If you want to register as an individual song publisher too, I recommend doing so with the same organisation that you've registered with as a songwriter, to keep things streamlined. It will cost you $50 to become a self-publisher at ASCAP and $150 at BMI. However, before you register with a PRO as an individual publisher, I suggest that you go to Songtrust first, because they will register you for free with the PRO of your choice.
Songtrust is a publishing administration company that collects all royalties on a song publishers behalf, and their platform works with royalty collection societies across the globe, giving you the furthest reach to get paid for the use of your music. It costs $99 a year to have them collect on the songs that you - as a publisher - register with Songtrust.
There are very few publishing administration companies that serve independent artists publishing interests, so many artists rely on the PRO they registered with to collect and pay out royalties. In addition to Songtrust in this space, there is now UK-based Sentric Publishing, and Spain-based Unison.
I'm now a song publisher. Am I also a record label?
If you want to have the appearance of being with a record label, you could create your own record label that has a different name to your artist name. Although you often see established artists launching their own record label after they've become successful, other artists build record labels around themselves from the very start. For instance, the Indie imprint Mad Decent was started because music producer Diplo needed a label home to launch his career. His label now has dozens of new artists signed.
Having your own record label name is something to consider, and there may come a time where you want to give like-minded artists a home under your label and music publishing firm. If you decide to skip the record label name and just use your own, your music will simply display as released by your artist name on music streaming services. You can be on your new record label in name only - meaning you haven't set up any legal business behind it. One other option is to establish your label as an LLC (a US-specific form of a private limited company) or your country's equivalent, so that you can structure your profit and losses from selling and marketing your music in a more tax-efficient manner.
Using a distributor to self-release
There are three major independent distribution services that can deliver your music digitally to most streaming services (e.g., Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music) as well as retailers (e.g. online music stores like iTunes, Beatport and Bandcamp). The big three self-service distribution companies are Tunecore, CD Baby, and Distrokid. They are called self-service because you won't need a rep from the company to handle your music. Instead, you'll be able to upload your master audio files directly to their distribution service webpage. The major labels also operate music distribution companies - Sony Music owns The Orchard, Warner Music group has ADA, and Universal Music has InGrooves. You would have to have a pretty big fan base and established track record of success to work with those firms. Regardless, the technology is pretty much the same with both the majors and self-service companies. When you distribute your music through any kind of digital distributor, you will find an online dashboard where you upload your music files and enter in all the related metadata (information about the songs).
Selling music directly to your audience
It's becoming more common for musicians to sell audio files directly to consumers and skip streaming entirely. Musicians who have established fan bases may feel they can do very well with sales and keep the majority of their income without giving a percentage of the sales revenues to a distributor. However, if you set up a website to sell audio files directly, you'll still have to pay the web hosting fees.
Many musicians now have Patreon accounts. This platform allows artists to set up a monthly subscription service for their fans where they can offer regular, direct, and early access to their music. They may also offer other exclusive content like behind-the-scenes videos and limited-edition merchandise. Patreon only takes 10% of the fan subscription revenues, which is a lower rate than Bandcamp's 15% of revenue for digital music sales.
Both Patreon and Bandcamp have a huge advantage over other music retail sites and streaming services in that if you are self-releasing, youll be able to upload your music to their platforms and sell your release immediately. Using a digital distributor means that you are obliged to wait for them to deliver your release to music retailers and streaming services. It's typically about a week from the time you upload your music to t
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
21/01/2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
Backing Britain on the global stage: Sky becomes an o...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
16/01/2026
The start of a new year brings fresh possibilities. Whether you're diving in with big goals or simply setting new intentions, audiobooks can bring inspirati...
16/01/2026
In 2025 we launched the Spotify Partner Program to give creators more ways to tu...
15/01/2026
The SGL Carbon site in Bonn has a long tradition of training. For many years, young talent has been successfully trained here, regularly achieving excellent exa...
15/01/2026
The JEC Composites Innovation Awards annually honor the most innovative and ambi...
15/01/2026
X-energy Reactor Company, LLC ( X-energy ) and SGL Carbon LLC ( SGL ) have signed a 10-year framework agreement to provide graphite for the deployment of X-ener...
15/01/2026
RT is tonight announcing that Mari Hurley has decided to leave her role as RT 's Chief Financial Officer to take up a new position outside RT . Mari will r...
15/01/2026
15 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Reaches 3.0 million Customers with Starlink Dir...
15/01/2026
Views to free streaming service U grew by 15%, average monthly active users by 23% and registrations by 18%
UKTV's channels achieved record viewing share, ...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
Sky Sports to show Final Stage of inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup
Sky and FIFA have agreed an exclusive new partnership whi...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
The official trailer for the second season of Seth Mac...
15/01/2026
Wuppertal January 15, 2026
Riedel RefCam Takes Center Court in German Basketba...
15/01/2026
Arvato Systems Named Launch Partner for AWS European Sovereign Cloud
As a launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, Arvato Systems enables customer...
14/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 13th January, 2026 ITV, one of the UKs leading broadcasters, has selected Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), to ...
14/01/2026
Steiger Media's adoption of Calrec's compact Argo M console not only makes its innovative new hybrid truck faster, more efficient, and agile, but also e...
14/01/2026
Press Release: The Boston Globe Names Cartesian a Top Place to Work in 2025
January 14, 2026
News
Cartesian - January 14, 2026 - EINPresswire.com - Sp...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Marcus Theatres Announce Five-Year Extension for Cinema ACE and Ent...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Santikos Entertainment Announce Five-Year Circuit Wide Commitment t...
14/01/2026
Wednesday 14 January 2026
Sky News announces Cathy Newman to lead flagship new political programme
Sky News today announces that award-winning journalist and ...
14/01/2026
The first stamp of An Post's 2026 Stamp Programme, marking 100 Years of Broadcasting, was unveiled at the GPO by Patrick O'Donovan TD, Minister for Cult...
14/01/2026
It's official! Beverley Callard has landed in Carrigstown. The beloved actor, known for her unforgettable roles and iconic screen presence, is joining the c...
13/01/2026
Independent media in Brazil and Colombia is facing an urgent crisis of traditional business models alongside a deteriorating security environment, according to ...
13/01/2026
Luxembourg, December 17, 2025 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading spa...
13/01/2026
Written and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna, produced b...
13/01/2026
New updates to Hitmaker Expansion from Celemony and Softube Edit pitch-perfect vocals with Melodyne Essential and get radio-ready guitar tones from Softube...
13/01/2026
Live broadcasts from RT 2FM Breakfast with Carl, Roz & Aisling, RT Radio 1 Tod...
12/01/2026
Spotify's new co-CEOs, Alex Norstr m and Gustav S derstr m, start off the new year with a message of renewed leadership, creative responsibility, and what&#...
12/01/2026
At Spotify, we listen to a lot of music. And every year, our global editors and artist partnerships teams come together to spotlight the emerging voices we beli...
12/01/2026
Spotify's global editors and Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships team spend their days immersed in new music, tracking the writers behind the songs breaking...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan and increases its support for the J...
12/01/2026
X-Rite and Rhopoint Launch Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix to Streamline Creation of...
12/01/2026
12 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Launches 5G Pilot in Lviv Lviv, January 12, 2026 - VEON, a global digital operator (Nasdaq: VEON), today announces that Kyivsta...
12/01/2026
Monday 12 January 2026
The ultimate betrayal: Harry and Jamie Redknapp, Paul Me...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan to increase its support for the Jap...
12/01/2026
Welcome to the AVECO team: introducing new members of management
At AVECO, we are continuing to implement our #newAVECO strategy, which aims to build an even s...
12/01/2026
For the first time in the nine-year history of Dancing with the Stars, the first...
Words: Chuck Fishman
