If you write music, there's a good chance you're leaving money on the table right now and you might not even know it. Every time one of your songs gets played on the radio, streamed, used in a video, or sold in a store, it generates publishing royalties. But that money doesn't just show up in your account. Someone has to register your songs with the right organizations around the world and actively collect it. If no one is doing that for you, it sits unclaimed.
That's what publishing administration is for. This guide explains what it is in plain English, what Listn Music's publishing admin actually does for you, and exactly how to submit your songs for registration with us — step by step.
What is publishing administration, really?
Think of a song as having two sides:
- The recording — the actual audio file you uploaded. (This is what your distribution earns from on streaming.)
- The composition — the underlying song itself: the melody, chords, and lyrics. This is the "publishing" side, and it earns its own money, separately from the recording.
Every time your composition is performed or reproduced anywhere in the world, it earns publishing royalties — performance royalties (radio, streaming, TV, live, public venues), mechanical royalties (downloads, streams, physical sales), and sync royalties (use in film, ads, games, and video). These are collected by a patchwork of organizations: Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or GMR; mechanical agencies; and collection societies in dozens of countries.
A publishing administrator is the person who registers your songs with all of those organizations, makes sure your writer information and splits are filed correctly, chases down the money globally, and pays it through to you. That's the job we do.
What you're missing without it
If your songs aren't registered for publishing, here's what typically goes uncollected:
- Performance royalties from international plays your home PRO doesn't reach.
- Mechanical royalties from streams and downloads worldwide.
- Royalties that are simply sitting in "unmatched" or "black box" pools because no one filed a claim with the correct writer and split data.
It adds up faster than most independent artists expect — and unlike a one-time sale, it keeps earning for the life of the song.
What Listn Music's publishing administration covers
When you sign up for publishing administration with us, here's the deal in straightforward terms:
- You keep 100% ownership of your songs. This is administration, not a sale or a buyout of your copyrights. The compositions are yours, always.
- Worldwide coverage. We register your works and collect through PROs, mechanical agencies, and collection societies across the globe — not just your home territory.
- We collect every type of publishing income generated by your songs: performance, mechanical, and synchronization royalties.
- We register, license, and collect — including issuing mechanical, sync, and print licenses on your behalf where appropriate.
- Our fee is 25%. We retain a 25% administration fee on the publishing royalties we collect, and you keep 75%. For any sync license we issue or facilitate, the split is 50/50.
- One wallet. Your publishing royalties land in the same Listn wallet as your other earnings, and you cash out once you pass the $50 minimum payout threshold using your chosen method.
It's an exclusive administration agreement, which means while it's active, you appoint us as your sole publishing administrator for the songs you submit. You can leave anytime with 30 days' notice (more on the terms below).
Before you start: what you'll need ready
Submission goes smoothly when each song has complete songwriter information. For every song you plan to register, make sure you have:
- The songwriter's full legal name (and any co-writers).
- Each writer's IPI/CAE number — this is the unique ID your PRO assigns you when you join. If you don't have one yet, you'll get it when you affiliate with a PRO (see below).
- Each writer's PRO affiliation — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, or your local society.
- Writer splits that add up to exactly 100%. If you wrote it alone, that's 100% to you. If you co-wrote, every writer's percentage must total 100.
- (Optional) The ISWC if the song already has one. Not required — we can register it without one.
Don't have a PRO yet? You'll need to affiliate with one to receive performance royalties. It's a one-time signup with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or GMR (or your country's society), and they issue your IPI/CAE number. Do that first, then come back and add the number to your songs.
One more prerequisite that's unique to us: your songs need to be distributed through Music Label Group with Content ID set to a non-flagging position. This is what keeps your catalog claim-free — it prevents your own songs from issuing false copyright claims against the people who license them. If your music is distributed with us, this is verified automatically. If not, you'll be asked to confirm it before submitting.
How to submit your songs for publishing administration: step by step
Step 1 — Open the Publishing section in your Studio
Log in and go to Studio → Publishing (/studio/publishing). This is your publishing home base. You'll see your agreement status at the top and a list of your songs with a readiness indicator next to each one.
Step 2 — Read and e-sign the Publishing Agreement
Before you can register any songs, you sign the agreement once. Click through to read the full Exclusive Publishing Administration Agreement, then sign it electronically. The moment you sign, we generate a signed PDF copy for your records (you can download it anytime from the Publishing section), and your account is enabled to submit songs.
Take a minute to actually read it — it's written to be understandable, and the key terms are summarized at the bottom of this post.
Step 3 — Complete each song's writer information
Back on the Publishing page, any song that's missing required info will be flagged with exactly what it needs (for example, "Missing writer IPI/CAE number" or "Writer splits total 90% — should be 100%"). Open each flagged song and fill in:
- Writer name(s)
- IPI/CAE number(s)
- PRO affiliation(s)
- Split percentages totaling 100%
A song shows as ready once all of that is complete. You can't submit a song until it's ready — this protects you, because incomplete or incorrect split data is the number-one reason royalties get stuck unmatched.
Step 4 — Select your ready songs and submit
Once your songs are marked ready, select the ones you want to register and click Submit for registration. You'll confirm the Content ID / claim-free attestation (auto-checked if you distribute through Music Label Group), and that's it.
Step 5 — We take it from here
Your submission is packaged with all the correct metadata and sent into the global registration pipeline through our publishing partners and collection societies. Registration with PROs and societies worldwide takes time on their end — that's normal and outside anyone's control — but once your works are registered, collection begins automatically and runs continuously for the life of the songs.
How you actually get paid
Once your songs are registered, here's the flow: whenever a song is played anywhere in the world — radio, streaming, TV, stores — it earns publishing royalties. We collect that money globally, take our 25% admin fee, and credit your writer's share straight to your Listn wallet.
Your publishing royalties stack up in the same wallet as your licensing and distribution earnings. When your balance passes the $50 minimum, you cash out with your chosen payout method. Upload once, get paid from every direction.
The terms at a glance
For the full legal text, read the agreement in your Studio before signing. Here's the plain-English summary:
- Ownership: You keep 100% of your copyrights. This is administration only.
- Territory: Worldwide.
- Admin fee: 25% of collected publishing royalties (you keep 75%).
- Sync split: 50/50 on any sync license we issue or facilitate.
- Exclusivity: Exclusive for the songs you submit while the agreement is active.
- Payout threshold: $50 minimum.
- Term & exit: Starts when you e-sign; either side can end it with 30 days' written notice.
- After you leave: We have up to 12 months to collect royalties already earned during your term, then we release our registration claims.
- Your warranties: You're 18+, you own or control the songs (or have provided accurate co-writer splits), the works are original with no uncleared samples, and they aren't tied up in a conflicting publishing deal.
- Governing law: Washington, DC.
Frequently asked questions
Do I give up ownership of my songs? No. You retain 100% ownership of your copyrights. We administer them on your behalf; we never own them.
Is this the same as distribution? No — they're two different income streams. Distribution earns from your recordings on streaming platforms. Publishing administration earns from your compositions worldwide. With us, both flow into the same wallet.
Do I need a PRO before I sign up? To collect performance royalties, yes — you'll want to affiliate with a PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, or your local society) so you have an IPI/CAE number to put on your songs. You can sign the agreement first, then add your songs once you have it.
What if I co-wrote the song? That's fine — just enter each co-writer with their own IPI, PRO, and split percentage, and make sure the splits total 100%.
Can I leave later? Yes. Either party can end the agreement with 30 days' notice. After that, there's a 12-month window for us to collect anything already earned, and then we release our registration claims.
Ready to register your catalog?
If you've been releasing music without registering your publishing, you've likely got royalties waiting to be claimed. Head to Studio → Publishing, sign the agreement, get your songs' writer info complete, and submit. We'll handle the registration and collection — you keep ownership, keep 75% of what comes in, and get paid from every corner of the world, all in one place.