Best Practice
Best Practice For A Better South African Music Publishing Industry
The South African voice of Music Publishing
Advocating for our members at all times, upholding their interests, and protecting the intellectual property of publishers and composers. We are proud members of ICMP, the world trade association representing the interests of the music publishing community internationally.
Music publishers should never:
- knowingly claim a song where they do not have the rights
- obtain confidential information from CMOs for their own unlawful gain
- take advantage of vulnerable creators
- try to hide the meaning of clauses in their publishing contracts
- try to hide publishing rights within record label contracts
- engage in payola or ‘favour for favour’ with media companies
- pressure composers to sign unfair deals
- refuse to acknowledge when it is proven that someone else owns the rights that they were claiming
- restrict who composers choose to be represented by
- support or encourage piracy
Music publishers are trusted by songwriters to
- be their champions
- defend their intellectual property
- add value from licensing copyright
- fight for fairness in rights licensing
- be active citizens in building the industry
Music Publishers appreciate that many local composers:
- struggle to survive on songwriting alone
- don’t have easy access to legal, financial and business services
- often lean on music publishers for various aspects of their business
- are not well protected in labour law
Music publishers should:
- always act ethically and with integrity
- never use unfair advantage to harm smaller publishers
- be able to prove their claims when legitimately disputed
- have a deep understanding of their own publishing agreements
- explain clauses to the contract partner – publishing contracts can impact careers
- have a thorough understanding of copyright licensing,
- ensure that the correct rights are covered in licensing agreements,
- ensure there are signed agreements for royalty advances
- pay royalties to composers and original publishers
- establish proper accounting procedures to ensure efficient and transparent processing of royalty payments, and retain records
- hold CMOs accountable for efficiency, accuracy and completeness
- ensure their company is up to date and in good standing with CIPC and SARS
- always grow their own knowledge of copyright and the industry
- stand up for diversity, freedom of expression and anti-harassment in the industry
- encourage and support the participation of more women in the industry