Publishing is about the song itself (the composition), separate from any one recording of it. Here is what we handle when publishing is on.
Registration with the collecting societies
We register the works so publishing royalties are collected correctly. On a release you will see this as its own stage, labelled SACEM (our own society is SACEM), which then moves to awaiting validation.
That deposit is the first step and the one you can follow in the app, not the whole picture. From there the work reaches the collecting societies of other countries through our partners and sub-publishers, so a play abroad is collected by the society that operates there. You do not have to register anywhere yourself, and there is nothing extra to do per territory.
Registration is also what makes your composition earn from YouTube: the societies have their own agreements with the platform, so once the work is deposited, the composition side is collected like any other use.
Collecting publishing royalties
Beyond streaming payouts, compositions earn royalties through performance and mechanical rights. Publishing is how those get collected and paid to the writers.
Sync and stock licensing
We actively look for opportunities to place your music: sync (film, TV, ads, online video) and stock or production-music libraries. These can bring in licence income and expose your music to new audiences, which often lifts streams too.
Who gets paid
Publishing follows the songwriter and composer credits on the song. That is why the roles and legal names in your splits matter. See Why legal names and roles matter for publishing.