Music publishing has long been considered to be a slow and steady revenue stream for the industry — the business of rounding up pennies (or, rather, micro-pennies!) for the underlying musical work copyright. But anyone who works in the field will tell you that in publishing there is plenty of drama and action behind the scenes, even if it feels, to outsiders, like the drama surrounds overly-complicated minutiae.
And at least on that first part, those outsiders might be right — many of these topics are way too complicated, but publishers and songwriters believe every cent is worth fighting for, even if that means working within the confines of archaic systems and against Big Tech to get it done.
This year, the publishing business was marked by Hipgnosis’ catalog woes, the domino effect of UMPG writers getting removed from TikTok, and the NMPA “declaring war” on Spotify for cutting royalty payments by an estimated $150 million to publishers over the next year. The MLC also found itself increasingly at the center of the action. From its redesignation that kicked off the new year (and still isn’t done), to its lawsuits against Spotify and Pandora and figuring out the nine-figure adjustment in royalties owed to publishers from 2018-2022 underpayments, the collection society, which is still a relative newcomer, has become a force in the publishing sector.
And with increasing calls for PRO reform and AI threatening to alter the songwriting process, there is surely more drama ahead for publishers in 2025. Let the games begin.