Music Publishing: The Complete Guide

Book has great samples of actual music deals and complete breakdowns of how music publishing works. Highly recommend.

I purchased the Kindle version as a required textbook for college. This book is "easy to read" because it is well-written. There is terminology that is specific to the music industry throughout the book, but the author ALWAYS defines the terms used. He also gives specific examples to explain the points he makes throughout the book. This even includes specific court cases regarding publishing rights, points of view from record companies vs. songwriters/artists and vice versa. It is a combination of generalized music business topics as well as cases and possible scenarios within the music business while providing explicit details. I would HIGHLY recommend this book and author for anyone wanting to learn the ins and outs of the legal side of the music industry, especially the publishing side. There's SO MUCH to learn, yet this text book is a great resource for beginners and intermediate learners.

I had the honor of discovering this text as a student earning a masters on music industry administration at California State University, Northridge. I was already a music industry professional with publishing experience, but this text brought many concepts and industry customs to light for me. I should also mention that I had the honor of being taught by Mr. Steve Winogradsky himself. I am now a music business educator and recommend this book to everyone.

A terrific primer for aspiring music publishers, songwriters and related fields. The music business has grown more complex and this book will help navigate the increasingly choppy waters. A little technical and legal in spots but overall, Winogradsky did a superb job of making the complicated a lot more understandable.

This book is very thorough as a guide to music publishing. It contains a vast amount of material which is very useful to anyone involved in any of these processes.

I'm an entertainment lawyer and I have to say that I love this book!!! It goes over almost everything and really breaks it down for you. I wish I could give it more stars. This is for people who want to know about music business NOT for those looking to represent clients as a manager or agent

If this is not in your library, you're missing out. Steve's book is a must have for anyone (including attorneys) who wants a deeper knowledge of the music publishing business. It goes into detail (via great examples and sample contract language) without your head spinning. Glad I bought this.

Well written

It's main focus is sync licensing, film and TV.There's a chapter titled "songwriter deal" but it's nearly all about your standard (avoid at all costs) songwriter deal where the publisher owns you. There's not a comprehensive amount of info on co-publishing agreements which, even according to this book is what "most songwriters prefer to get into" and that's a bit disappointing. In fact there's not even a sub chapter or heading with "co-publishing" on it. There is a sub chapter on administration deals but I think a distinction between the two would be helpful to songwriters who are pitching to either and need to know the benefits of each.The "placement deal" chapter is all about film and TV placements, just so you know.Also half the book is comprised of contract examples which are quite helpful but obviously fill the book up a lot. I guess some could say the contracts are what adds to the value (it's quite expensive book) but some would just prefer more knowledge in areas such as the one I've mentioned.I should point out as well that there's a bit of a history lesson which you could say is interesting or unnecessary, depending on what you want out of the book. The digital music chapters are out of date by about 8 years.You'll definitely get something out of it regardless of what your field is but personally as a songwriter and producer I would've liked to see more about major labels, including licensing masters rather than sync deals and libraries.