Every song that earns money actually generates two separate sets of rights, and each one can be owned, licensed or sold on its own. Before you talk to any buyer, you need to know which side you control, because it decides who you can sell to, how the income is valued and what the deal will look like.
Two copyrights in every track
The composition (publishing). This is the song itself: the melody, the lyrics and the underlying musical work. It belongs to the songwriters and, if they have signed a publishing or co-publishing deal, partly to their publisher. It earns money every time the song is performed, reproduced or synced, whoever recorded it.
The sound recording (masters). This is one specific recording of that song. It usually belongs to whoever paid for the recording: a record label, or the artist if they released independently. It earns money when that exact recording is streamed, sold, broadcast or licensed.
A cover version is the easiest way to see the difference. If another artist records your song, you earn nothing on their master, but as the writer you still earn publishing income on every stream of their version.
How each side earns money
Publishing income comes from several streams:
- Performance royalties, collected by performing rights organizations (such as SGAE, PRS, ASCAP or BMI) when the song is played on radio, TV, in venues or streamed.
- Mechanical royalties, paid when the song is reproduced, including on-demand streams and downloads.
- Sync fees, when the composition is licensed for film, TV, ads or games.
- Print and other uses, usually smaller.
Master income comes mainly from:
- Streaming and sales revenue, paid by the label or distributor.
- Neighbouring rights, paid when the recording is broadcast or played in public (collected in Spain by AGEDI/AIE, in the UK by PPL, in the US by SoundExchange for digital radio).
- Master use fees for sync, paid alongside the publishing sync fee.
What you can actually sell
What is sellable depends on what you own, not on whose name is on the track:
- Writer's share and publisher's share. Songwriters can sell their writer's royalty stream, their publisher's share (if they self-publish or own their publishing company) or both. Selling the writer's share usually requires a structure that respects collecting society rules, which buyers are used to handling.
- Master ownership. If you own your recordings outright, you can sell the copyright itself. If a label owns them, what you usually own is your artist royalty, which can also be sold as an income stream.
- Partial stakes. You do not have to sell 100%. Many deals cover 50% or a fixed percentage of a catalog, or only certain songs.
- Name, image and likeness. Legacy and estate deals increasingly bundle catalog rights with NIL rights for documentaries, merchandise and brand work.
Which side is worth more?
There is no universal answer. Publishing has historically been considered the more stable asset because it earns from every version and every use, and it typically has a longer copyright life tied to the writers. Masters can generate larger absolute revenue on streaming, especially for artist-owned recordings, but income is more concentrated in a single recording.
Recent market commentary puts institutional multiples for strong, mature publishing catalogs around the mid-teens of annual net income, with established master and combined catalogs sometimes trading slightly higher. Smaller or younger catalogs trade well below that. What really moves the price is the quality of the income, which we cover in How Music Catalogs Are Valued.
Before you start a conversation
- List every song and recording you have rights in, with your exact percentage of each.
- Gather your contracts: publishing, label, distribution, producer and co-writer agreements.
- Pull three years of statements from your PRO, publisher, label or distributor.
- Identify any reversion dates, since rights that come back to you soon can change the deal.
Key takeaways
- Every track has two copyrights: the song (publishing) and the recording (masters).
- You can only sell what you own, but that includes royalty streams, not just copyrights.
- Partial sales are common and can be a smart way to get liquidity while keeping upside.
- Knowing your exact split sheet is the first step to getting a fair price.
If you are not sure which rights you hold or what they could be worth, book a confidential call and we will map it out with you. For a deeper look at the recording side, see our page on selling masters.