Music Publishing & Songwriting

Okay, I know you’re sick of It. I know you’ve already heard every angle of It discussed ad nauseam. I share your pain. I’m pretty over It as well. It. The Death. The Passing of the Gloved One.

In typical American fashion, it’s not enough to simply acknowledge Michael Jackson for what he was— a brilliant, if troubled, entertainer: heir to the traditions of Fred Astaire and Bill Bojangles Robinson, James Brown and Elvis, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jackie Wilson and Sly Stone. Across forty years of recording, including performances when he was ten and eleven years old, it’s almost impossible to find one poor vocal performance in Michael Jackson’s entire catalog. Some of his songwriting will certainly stand the true test of time, particularly “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, and “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”. His best records, and they range from “I Want You Back” to “Man In the Mirror” to just about every song on “Thriller” are about as close as anyone can get to perfection in pop music. But apparently, that’s not enough. Instead, he needs to be lauded as a civil rights icon, a crusader for world peace, and a tortured victim of media bias. It’s done. Give It a rest.

What is interesting is that between the over-the-top eulogies and the media accolades, not much has been made of what may have been one of Michael Jackson’s most interesting and savvy career moves. In 1983 and 1984, Michael acquired the Sly Stone catalog, with songs like “Everyday People” and “Everybody Is A Star”, as well as songs by the Soul Survivors (“Expressway To Your Heart”) and Dion (“The Wanderer”). Then in 1985, Jacko purchased the ATV Music catalog, which included virtually all of the major Beatles hits by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, for $47.5 million dollars. Today that catalog is likely worth more than a billion dollars. Not so Wacko after all, I guess…

Several years after his purchase of ATV, Michael partnered with Sony Music to form a partnership, SonyATV Music Publishing, which gave 50% of his share in ATV to Sony. While the partnership was a strange one at times, with Michael at times an active presence (especially in the early years) in building the company, advising, and approving business moves, and at other times a shadow boss more likely to be seen in a TV court trial than to be heard from in regards to the publishing business.

After purchasing CBS Records in 1988, Sony was eager to begin a music publishing entity, but lacked any core catalog upon which to build. This is always an important factor in starting a publishing entity. If you were to simply sign up some new writers, wait for them to generate some hit songs, then wait for that money to come trickling in, a new publishing entity could easily find itself waiting five to eight years before seeing any meaningful income. That’s a long time to wait for a little cash flow. That’s why most publishing start-ups try to immediately acquire a catalog of songs that includes some classic hits. This is the basis upon which you can begin to acquire new material.

Without question, the Beatles catalog provides as solid a foundation to build on as any company could desire. Over time, Sony-ATV ( a company where I was an A&R person for two years in the beginning of this decade) built itself into a prominent player in the publishing world, beyond just the ATV catalog, and this year was named Publisher of the Year at the ASCAP Pop Awards, forcing EMI to share an award for the first time in any recent memory. While legal debts and financial mismanagement forced Michael to borrow heavily against his ownership share of Sony-ATV, he continues to retain a part of the joint venture, which now includes a catalog with hits ranging from Bon Jovi to Rihanna and the Jonas Bros. At the time of his death, it appeared that Sony-ATV was likely Michael’s largest and most tangible financial investment.

Ironically, the story goes that it was actually Paul McCartney who suggested to Michael that he begin to acquire publishing catalogs, as McCartney had already begun to build a lucrative publishing empire for himself by the mid-Eighties. Of course, he did not expect that Michael would buy Paul’s own catalog out from under him. Nevertheless, the advice was sound. The strange thing is that so few songwriters do the same.

After all, who knows the value of songs better than songwriters? Who has more knowledge of what makes a song truly timeless or a better sense of the potential of a young writer than another songwriter? Who else has the advantage of bringing in their own catalog as the foundation upon which to build a publishing company? A lawyer, real estate mogul or investment banker has to go out and buy everything they acquire. A songwriter can bring in their own work to get the whole ball rolling. And yet…

Almost none do. Certainly, McCartney has had a great deal of success with MPL, acquiring classics like “Stormy Weather”, “Autumn Leaves”, and “Sentimental Journey” and the early rock ‘n’ roll songs of Buddy Holly. In the urban genre, there have been a number of successful writer/producers who have established significant publishing companies, including LA & Babyface, Rodney Jerkins, Corey Rooney and P. Diddy. The country writers have probably had the most success in building successful publishing ventures– writers like Craig Wiseman (Big Loud Shirt), Roger Murrah (Murrah Music), and Keith Stegall (Big Picture Music) have all built successful catalogs.

Nevertheless, in the pop and rock genre, there are very few examples of successful songwriters that have actively acquired copyrights by other songwriters and laid the foundation for a significant independent business. Surprisingly, most artist/writers that make their fortune are more likely to start their own record label, despite the dismal history of that particularly strategy. All indications are that publishing, not master ownership, is the long-term investment value.

Granted, buying up publishing catalogs is not for the faint of heart, or the under-funded. But many of the Nashville and urban companies have been built not by big money acquisitions but rather the discovery of young writers and artists that can be developed. This strategy is far more practical for most people’s budgets. Either way, the point is the same. If songs are your business, why not look at acquiring some that are not your own?

Of course, making and operating a music publishing company is harder than people like Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney make it look. In fact, Sony-ATV has had its share of business challenges, as has MPL Communications. But should you have an opportunity or a desire to one day get into empire-building, through music publishing, here are a couple of quick tips for songwriters looking to expand their horizons…

1. Find a business partner.
Preferably, this should not be a songwriter or musician. Instead, it should be someone very facile with a calculator. It’s not highly realistic for a successful songwriter, producer or artist to have the time available to operate an effective publishing venture without some helping hands. That could be a savvy lawyer/business advisor, like John Branca has been for Michael Jackson. It could be another music publisher that administers the catalog, as does EMI for Darkchild Productions and Bad Boy. It could be an investor willing to take on much of the financial risk. It could be a very effective manager, who runs the day to day operations of the company itself. Songwriting can be an independent activity. But music publishing is almost always a team effort. I don’t suggest going it alone.

2. Go with what you know.
It’s probably not an accident that Sly Stone’s catalog was one of the first that Michael Jackson acquired. If you listen to early Jackson Five hits like “A-B-C” and “I Want You Back”, the influence of Sly is unmistakable. Michael Jackson’s first premise of publishing acquisitions was to acquire songs that meant something to him. That’s not a bad place to start.

3. Go where you have an outlet.
In case you haven’t noticed, placing songs is no picnic. Believe it or not, it doesn’t get all that much easier, even when you’re a large, well-established publishing company. It’s always a battle to get songs onto records, or into movies, or somewhere they will make money.

That’s why most successful songwriter/publishers acquire songs that fit into what they are already doing. Most urban producers begin publishing ventures because they have more demand for their songs than they can fulfill– consequently, they hire new and upcoming urban producers to fill the need. The same is true for country songwriters, who quickly realize that there is only so much time in each day, and so many songs that they can personally write. By signing new country writers who create music in a similar style, successful songwriters and producers can take advantage of all the opportunities available while simultaneously opening doors for new writers in their genre. If a country writer were to sign the publishing of a young urban producer, or a successful urban hitmaker were to load his publishing roster with rock acts, all that synergy would be lost. Make your life easier. Find writers who fit into the world in which you are already connected.

4. Wait.
Publishing is not a fast-buck business. When Michael paid $47.5 million dollars for the Beatles in the Eighties, it didn’t look like he was stealing anything. Even Paul McCartney had essentially bowed out of the bidding at that price. It’s only now, more than twenty years later, that the deal looks brilliant. That’s often the case–as it was when EMI purchased Berry Gordy’s Jobete Music for what now seems a bargain-basement number. In the long-term, publishing is a generally solid, predictable business. But in any given year, publishing income can be very volatile. The key is to be in the game for the long haul. If you wait, you’ll almost inevitably wind up looking smarter than you were.

Michael Jackson left a wild legacy– plenty of brilliant moments and alot of twisted ones as well. It’s an inspiring, strange, and sad picture all at once. The one thing that has stuck with me is how many times I’ve spoken with people in the industry who had the chance to work with Michael Jackson, either in the publishing field or as musicians, singers, and engineers, only to hear the same story, over and over again. The story I’ve heard is not that of a crazy, Garbo-esque circus act, though that element certainly became a dominating factor somewhere toward the close of his life. But the story I’ve heard has consistently been that of an extremely focused, intelligent, savvy, competitive show-business veteran, obsessed with hitting the highest standard of whatever he took on. That’s the Michael Jackson that songwriters, producers and musicians should appreciate, and his creation of Sony-ATV Music is an important part of that legacy.