A great administrator allows you to forget about the business and concentrate on the music.

Music administration is essentially making sure intellectual property is used with the knowledge and approval of the owner and collecting and monitoring payment for these uses.

Publishers:
If you have entered into a publishing agreement, administration is part of the services that the publisher is providing you as the writer and/or the co-publisher.  If you own a publishing company, it is your responsibility to administer the copyrights contained in your company or to enter into an agreement with an outside company to provide these services.

Record Labels/Owners of Sound Recordings:
Record labels and owners of sound recordings also use music administrators to account to owners of the intellectual property used in their sound recordings.  A record label/owner of a sound recording may also use an administrator to license and collect payment on uses of their sound recording by others.

Songwriters:
A songwriter may also use an administrator to review and track the writer’s share of income received from publishers.  This is more common for a seasoned writer who has several catalogs with several different publishers.  It is also common for a writer’s heirs  or for a writer eligible to recapture their copyrights from previous publishers to use an administrator.

Producers:
Because basic producer agreements often involve royalties or points as part of the payment for services rendered in recording a project, a producer may use the services of a music administrator or manager to track the uses and payment of a producers work in receiving royalties from various owners and uses of the sound recording.

Maintaining song catalogs

• Lyric Sheets / Work Tapes / Demos
• Maintaining Database of Writer/Publisher Splits
• Copyright Assignment Forms from Writers
• Writer/Publisher Accounting