Essay
1 – Cite the essential responsibilities of a publisher’s professional manager.
2 – Experienced publishers have worked out certain criteria for determining acceptance of new material. What are the most common criteria?
3 – Describe the kinds of compromises a songwriter may be asked to make to sign a recording contract with a major record company.
4 – What are “cover records” and why are they of great importance to publishers?
5 – Describe NMPA.
6 – Discuss the services offered by the Harry Fox Agency.
True-False/Multiple Choice
1 – A publisher’s income from current hits (new songs) is greater from “paper” sales than from record royalties and performance royalties. T/F
2 – Most new pop/rock records get published in a variety of printed arrangements. T/F
3 – Large publishers will sometimes buy out other publishers’ whole catalogs if the price is right.
T/F
4 – Most performance royalties are generated from performances of records on radio and performances of songs on television or other media. T/F
5 – Writers going into self-publishing can get started in business for an initial investment in the range of (A) $500; (B) $ 1,000; (C) $10,000; (D) Cost out of reach for small investors.
6 – Classical music publishers rarely attempt to serve the music education field. T/F
7 – Classical music publishers sometimes rent music out to customers. T/F
8 – Publishers’ promotional techniques differ markedly in the fields of pop music versus classical music. T/F
9 – An important concern of a publisher’s on first hearing a songwriter’s demo tape is the question of whether the publisher can interest a currently active record producer or recording artist in the material. T/F
10 – The hottest music publishers in the pop field are usually those who manage to sign composer-performers. T/F
11 – Even enterprising publishers today avoid involvement in the career development of their contract writers and writer-performers, believing that is the concern only of the writers themselves and their managers and agents. T/F
12 – Administrative publishers are primarily responsible for exploitation of songs in the catalog or property they administer. T/F
13 - The Harry Fox Agency will accommodate requests for royalty sharing of split copyrights. T/F

14 – The industry usually refers to a publishing company as “independent” if it is unaffiliated with a record label or large publishing “group.” T/F
15 – Most record company publishing affiliates are expected to show a profit from their own publishing activities rather than depending solely on their alliance with their record company. T/F
16 – Most record labels own, or are affiliated with, at least two different publishing companies.
T/F
17 – Record company publishing affiliates may acquire catalogs from other publishers or writers.
T/F
18 – Even small publishers always have a copyright attorney on their regular full-time staff of salaried employees. T/F
19 – The sample contract in this chapter is weighted heavily in favor of the publisher. T/F
20 – If an artist promises to help promote a new song, copyright law permits the artist to be listed on the music as a coauthor. T/F
21 – The industry uses the term “song casting” to describe publishers’ efforts to locate new material to publish. T/F
22 – Although most publishers must pester producers and artists to record their material, publishers with strong material at times enjoy a reverse experience: producers and artists ask them what suitable material they might have available. T/F
23 – Recording artists who write their own material rarely set up their own publishing firms. T/F
24 – The record company may impose controlled composition language on songs recorded by an artist even if the artist was not the composer of all the songs on the album. T/F
25 – In addition to its licensing activities in the United States, NMPA/HFA also licenses music on a worldwide basis on behalf of its publisher principals for use in films, commercials, television programs, and all other types of audiovisual media. T/F
Open-Book Examination
1 – A publisher attempts to negotiate to his or her advantage a number of issues when working out a contract with a songwriter (e.g., royalty rates). Discuss any two of these essential contract issues, as outlined in the textbook’s sample contract
2 – List a pop music publisher’s potential income sources and indicate who pays this money to the publisher