Contracts

An administrator registers the song and collects publishing income for a fee. That is not the same thing as selling a share of the copyright, and a software subscription is a different contract again.

Authorizing someone else

Circular 1 says the owner may authorize others to exercise the exclusive rights. That authorization is a license or an assignment, and it lives in a contract. A license lets someone use a right on the terms you sign, for the time and the territory the contract states. An assignment hands ownership over. Read which one the paper is.

Works made for hire are the exception the Office describes to the rule that the creator is the author. There are two situations: the work is created by an employee as part of the job, or there is an express written agreement that a specially commissioned work is a work made for hire and the work is one of the categories the statute lists. Circular 1 lists those categories as a compilation, a contribution to a collective work, a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, and an atlas. The Office says the facts at the time of creation decide the question, and that a longer explanation is in Circular 30. A line that says “work for hire” does not settle it by itself.

What you are hiring in an admin deal

Publishing administration means someone else does the paperwork and the collection: registrations, society claims, and chasing the composition’s income in the territories the contract covers. In a typical admin deal the writer keeps ownership. The company is paid a fee out of what it collects. This site will not quote a usual fee. The only number that matters is the one in the contract you are looking at.

A co-publishing deal, or any deal that assigns part of the copyright, is a different transaction. You are giving up ownership, not only hiring a collector. Ask which rights move, for how long, in which countries, and what you get back when the term ends.

What The MLC expects the administrator to do

The MLC says an administrator generally registers your songs and collects your digital mechanicals. You should not also register those same shares as if you still controlled them. You remain responsible for shares the administrator does not control.

The MLC’s examples of administration services are TuneCore Publishing Administration, CD Baby Boost, and Songtrust. Naming them is not an endorsement. Confirm that the company you hired is the one claiming your shares, and keep the recording distributor separate in your head. Many companies sell both services.

Questions worth asking before you sign

Which income does the fee apply to: performance, mechanicals, sync, foreign collection, or all of it? Who registers with your PRO and with The MLC? Can you still pitch your own sync, and who approves a license? How do you leave, and how long can they keep collecting after you leave? What happens to songs you wrote before the deal?

A subscription to a distributor or a generator is also a contract. Read whether it takes a copyright, a license to train on your files, or only the right to deliver a release. Opt-in licensing, where a distributor offers your music to an AI training market, is a separate yes. Do not treat the distribution checkbox as that yes.

Sources checked 15 October 2026

If a society has changed a fee or a rule since these pages were read, the society’s page is the one to follow. This is not legal advice.