Publishing Societies Left Unconnected Through Sub-Publishers - Traps & Scams Every Musician Must Avoid

If you are a musician who ever woke up to a royalty statement that looked like it was written in invisible ink, this guide is for you. We are going to expose the traps that happen when your publisher or their sub publisher fails to connect your works to local collecting societies. Expect real life stories, raw truth, practical checklists, contract lines you must refuse, and the sneaky scams to spot faster than you can say ISWC. This is written for artists who speak in memes and coffee runs. You will leave with a survival kit for global royalties.

We will cover what publishing societies do, what a sub publisher actually is, why connections between societies matter, common scams, exact steps to protect yourself before you sign, and how to reclaim money that someone else has held back. We will also explain every cryptic acronym and give relatable examples of how these problems show up in the real world. Think of this as your cheat sheet for not getting financially ghosted by your songs.

Quick definitions so you do not get lost in the weeds

• Performing rights organization or PRO A body that collects public performance royalties for songwriters and publishers. Examples include ASCAP, BMI, PRS, GEMA, SOCAN. In some countries this is called a collective management organization or CMO which does the same thing.
• Sub publisher A local publisher or agent in a foreign territory who is hired to license, register, collect, and distribute your publishing income in that territory.
• ISWC International Standard Musical Work Code. This is the unique ID for a composition. Think of it as the social security number for a song.
• IPI Interested Parties Information number. This identifies songwriters and publishers. Use it like your name in machine readable form.
• ISRC International Standard Recording Code. This identifies a particular recording. Useful for neighboring rights and sound recording royalties.
• Neighboring rights Money paid to the owner of the recording when the sound recording is played publicly. This is separate from the publishing money paid to the songwriter or publisher.
• Mechanical rights Money paid for reproductions such as downloads and some streaming mechanical payments. In many countries another society collects these.
• Reciprocal agreement A deal between two societies to collect royalties for each other s members in their own territories.

Why connections between societies matter

Publishing societies do not magically know about your song everywhere it is played. They rely on registrations, metadata, set lists, cue sheets, and reciprocal relationships to route money. When you or your publisher register a work with a society in one territory, that society needs to either have a direct reciprocal agreement with the country where the music played or trust an appointed sub publisher to collect on its behalf.

If those links break, the money may sit in a pool that never reaches the right people. Or worse, the local collector pays the sub publisher who then charges a mountain of commissions before passing anything back. In extreme cases the local collector never pays because they do not even know your work exists in their database.

The role of a sub publisher and where things usually go wrong

Sub publishers are meant to be the on the ground pros. Their job is to register works with the local society, monitor local usages, license uses for TV film and public spaces, collect the money and send the correct share to the original publisher or songwriter. That is the ideal. In reality these tasks fail in many predictable ways.

• They register your song incorrectly or not at all
• They misreport your writer and publisher splits
• They collect money but do not pass accurate accounting back to you
• They charge excessive fees or commissions without justification
• They are not properly connected to the national society or they use a middleman who is a black box

Imagine you wrote a viral TikTok in the US and a South American ad uses it in a bus ad. That airplay should create performance royalties in the country where the bus ad ran. If your sub publisher in that country never registered your work with the local society, or they registered you under a slightly different writer name, the money could vanish into a generic pool and you will never see it.

Scam and trap list every musician must know

Below are the dirty moves you might encounter. I will give the scam, the way it plays out, the red flags, and a realistic example so you can visualize how this looks on your life.

1. The fake sub publisher or shadow company scam

How it plays out: Someone offers to represent your catalog in another country. They ask for exclusive rights and a lot of metadata. They register a handful of works but never connect with the local society properly. They may present fake accounting statements or make partial payments then vanish.

Red flags: Upfront demands for account setup fees or payment to third party companies. No verifiable office address. No membership with the local society. Refusal to provide working examples or references from other artists. Loose language in the contract that lets them reassign rights.

Scenario: You give a small admin company rights to handle Brazil. Months later a samba radio station plays your track. Your US publisher gets a note from a Brazilian collector that the track is unregistered. Your so called sub publisher says they will look into it. Two years pass and the amount sits in a generic account.

2. The registration gap trap

How it plays out: The sub publisher fails to register the work correctly with the local society. They might use a different songwriter spelling or wrong split. Without a clean registration the society cannot attribute plays to you.

Red flags: Delay in registration after licensing activity. Inconsistent metadata across statements. Registration documents that look like screenshots rather than official confirmations.

Scenario: Your song is cleared for a Mexican TV show. The show is a hit and is played repeatedly. You ask your sub publisher for registration proof. They give you an ID that does not match the society database. You file a complaint and the society says they have no record of your IPI or ISWC for that usage.

3. Commission stacking and undisclosed fees

How it plays out: Everyone takes a cut. Your publisher takes a cut. The sub publisher takes a cut. The local collection system takes fees. Some players add additional administrative fees when they process transfers. Suddenly there is almost nothing left.

Red flags: Vague accounting terms that say your share is net of unspecified fees. An accounting statement that lists a large number of small line items labeled admin fees without further detail.

Scenario: Your French sub publisher collected 1000 euros for a series of cafe plays. After cascaded commissions and fees the payment to you is only 250 euros. The statement shows a 30 percent sub publisher commission and a 40 percent local handling fee without naming services that justify those charges.

4. Exclusive long term trap with no audit rights

How it plays out: You sign an exclusive agreement for many territories for a long duration. The contract states the sub publisher will handle everything and that you cannot pursue the withheld accounting. There is no right to audit and termination requires paying back advances or a complicated buyout.

Red flags: Contracts that lock you in for many years. No clear audit clause. Vague termination provisions tied to undefined recoupment. Language that gives them rights to your catalog materials beyond administration.

Scenario: You sign a five year exclusive deal that promises to grow your career in Asia. After two years you notice missing money and there is no transparency. You cannot force an audit without invoking a legal fight that your bank account cannot afford.

5. The double registration and ownership swap trick

How it plays out: A dishonest sub publisher registers the work under their own publisher name or a company they control. This creates an ownership record in the local database that gives them the ability to collect money due to publishers rather than send to your publisher.

Red flags: Registrations that show a publisher name you do not recognize. Sudden new publisher entries in your work history. Statements showing collections paid to an entity not named in your contract.

Scenario: Your song is added to an international film. The local society credits the royalty to a publisher called Global Tunes Ltd. That company is actually a shell owned by the local admin. Getting the money back requires proving original ownership and a drawn out legal process.

6. The mismatched splits and bad metadata problem

How it plays out: Wrong writer split or publisher split entries. One comma in the wrong place and your writer share becomes 1 percent instead of 10 percent. Machines count what they are fed and they do not guess what you meant.

Red flags: Statements that show odd fractional shares. Registrations that list writers as anonymous or unknown. ISWC entries without linked IPI numbers.

Scenario: You co wrote a song with a producer. The sub publisher registered the split as 90 to the producer and 10 to you. The producer is unaware. You only find out months later when international mechanical payments arrive and you have a tiny fraction of what you expected.

7. The disappearing accounting act

How it plays out: The sub publisher sends vague statements, months late, or in a format that makes it impossible to trace usages. When you ask for backup documentation such as cue sheets or broadcast logs they stall or refuse citing privacy or commercial reasons.

Red flags: Statements with line items labeled unknown use. Delays for months without reasonable explanation. Refusal to provide raw reporting for specific licenses.

Scenario: You receive a bulk payment with no breakdown and an offer to compute the correct split for you. They ask you to sign off on their math and say that detailed logs are confidential client information. You have no verifiable proof to audit the claim.

How these issues actually affect your bank account

This is not theoretical. Missing registrations and bad metadata can mean no checks for months or years in territories where you might be owed sizable sums. A synchronization placement on a foreign national commercial can be worth thousands. If your publisher or sub publisher fails to register or route that money correctly, the cash sits in a pool or is split incorrectly. Over time this becomes a career level problem because you cannot plan tours or pay contributors with money you can t see or verify.

Exactly what you must check before you sign with a sub publisher

Below is the pre sign checklist that will save you sleepless nights. Do not sign until these boxes are ticked and documented.

• Proof of local society membership Ask for official membership IDs and account numbers with the local society. Confirm by contacting the society yourself.
• Reference list Ask for three current clients you can contact and verify actual payments and registrations.
• Clear territory definition The contract must list exact territories they will represent. No vague global language.
• Commission rate and net of what Get the exact percentage and what it is calculated against net of local taxes and known fees.
• Audit rights and frequency You must be able to audit the sub publisher s books yearly. Define notice period and audit scope.
• Registration obligations and timelines They should commit to registering works within a set number of days after delivery or exploitation.
• Direct registration clause You reserve the right to register works yourself with the local society for verification or backup.
• Termination terms Make sure termination is possible for breach and that there is a clear hand back plan for your files and uncollected monies.
• Banking and reporting standards Require statements in a standard CSV or spreadsheet format that you can process.

Metadata you need to control like your life depends on it

Machines pay what they can read. If your metadata is garbage you will not get paid. Here is the exact minimum metadata that must be consistent across every platform and registration.

• Song title exact match
• ISWC for the composition
• IPI numbers for every writer and publisher
• Exact writer and publisher splits and percentages
• Recording artist name linked to ISRC if applicable
• Release date and publisher name as entered with PROs and digital distributors
• Alternate title language if the work is known under another name in foreign territories

Real life example: If your name is spelled Alex Garcia in the US and Alex Garcia Music in Spain and Alec Garcia in Brazil the systems treat you as three different people. Your IPI glues identities together but only if it is added to every registration. Do it. Insist on it.

Exactly how to check if your work is registered in a foreign society

1. Get the ISWC from your publisher or generate it if you are the publisher and register it at your PRO s system.
2. Contact the foreign society and give them the ISWC and writer IPIs. Ask them to confirm the registration and the publisher entry.
3. Ask for the local work ID or registration number and save it in your master catalog.
4. Request a printout or screen shot from the society s public repertoire search where possible. Keep dates and user names as proof.

If the society says they have no record of your ISWC it means the sub publisher did not register or used wrong metadata. That is when you escalate and call for the contract obligations. If they produced a different work ID get that ID and keep chasing until the entry matches your master data exactly.

How much commission is fair for sub publishing

Typical historical ranges vary but here is a practical guide. Commissions are almost always taken from the publisher s share, not the writer s share. You want clarity about what slice of the publisher share they will keep.

• 10 percent to 20 percent is common and reasonable in most markets for active territories where the sub publisher does licensing and registration.
• 25 percent can be acceptable for very small markets where there is administrative burden and low collections.
• Above 30 percent is expensive and should trigger negotiation or the search for alternatives.

Also demand clarity about taxes and local charges. Some countries withhold taxes at source and you may need documentation to claim treaty relief or refunds. Your agreement should state who is responsible for withholding tax recovery and reimbursements.

What to do if you suspect your sub publisher is not connecting societies

Do this in order. Fast. Do not let things fester.

1. Collect your proof. Gather your master metadata, contracting emails, and any statements you have been given.
2. Demand documentation of registration in the local society. Get the registration ID and screenshot of the society s repertoire page if possible.
3. Contact the local society yourself. Give them ISWC and IPIs and ask for confirmation of who is registered as publisher and the split.
4. If the sub publisher cannot provide proof, invoke audit rights. If your contract has no audit clause see the dispute resolution clause and be prepared to escalate to legal action.
5. Contact your main publisher or admin service and request they open a formal claim and withhold further releases to the sub publisher until resolved.
6. Document every call and email. Put deadlines on every request. If they fail to meet deadlines start collecting receipts for legal recovery.

Recovering money that has already been trapped

Recovery can be messy. Expect bureaucracy, two hour wait times, and the need for persistence. Here is a roadmap that works more often than not.

1. Open a formal written dispute with the sub publisher demanding proof of collections, licensing notes, and bank receipts for the period in question.
2. Send a parallel inquiry to the local society requesting a trace of collections for the work during the time period and asking who was paid as publisher.
3. If the society shows the sub publisher as recipient but the contract states they are only an agent demand a breakdown and evidence of payment to the rightsholder. Societies have rules about misattributed collections and will usually help once they see a valid claim.
4. Hire a lawyer specialized in music rights for high value claims. Many small claims can be handled via the society but large disputes often require legal muscle.
5. If the sub publisher is fraudulent file complaints with the police or regulators in the country and with the society. That can lead to criminal investigations in extreme cases.

Alternatives to risky sub publishers

You do not have to hand your catalog to an unknown agent in every territory. Modern tools offer safer routes.

• Use global administration services Companies such as Songtrust and others collect mechanicals and performing royalties in many territories while offering transparent dashboards. They are not perfect but offer consistency and global reach.
• Direct society membership Some larger publishers join key foreign societies directly and manage registrations themselves. This eliminates a middle layer but requires work and local expertise.
• Use reputable sub publishers only If you choose a local team use firms with a track record and verifiable client payments. Check references and public reputation.
• Partner with an established admin publisher Firms with scale can negotiate better rates and have established reciprocal relationships. They cost more but reduce risk.

Practical contract clauses you must insist on

Here are plain English versions of clauses to include. Copy the idea when you negotiate. These protect you from the classic traps.

• Registration duty The sub publisher will register each work with the local society within 30 days of receipt and will provide registration IDs to the songwriter and original publisher.
• Audit rights The songwriter and original publisher may audit the sub publisher s books once per year with 30 days notice at their own cost unless the audit reveals underpayment of more than five percent in which case the sub publisher pays the audit costs.
• Non assignment of publisher title The sub publisher may not register themselves as owner or publisher of the works under any local database. They may only register as administrator for a named publisher account.
• Termination for material breach Failure to register, misreporting of splits, or failure to pay royalties within 90 days of collection are material breaches that allow immediate termination.
• Transparent reporting format The sub publisher will deliver detailed CSV statements showing date of use, usage type, tariff code, gross amount, fees itemized, net amount and bank receipts for payments within 45 days of the month end.

Tools and services that help you manage international royalties

These are not endorsements. They are options to research upfront.

• Songtrust and other global admin platforms for mechanicals and publishing administration
• Sentric and Kobalt style admin services for publishing and neighboring rights
• SoundExchange in the US for digital performance collection for sound recordings
• PPL UK and similar neighboring rights societies for recording owners and performers
• PROs like ASCAP, BMI, PRS, GEMA, SOCAN for performance rights
• Music rights lawyers and audit firms for disputes and recovery

Real life scenarios so you know what to do when the s hits the fan

Scenario one: The TV sync that never paid

You signed a license for a Croatian TV series that used your song. The sync fee was paid but the local performing society shows no record of the show using the composition. The sub publisher claims they registered the sync but cannot produce a registration ID. What to do first. Demand the sync license and the cue sheet. Contact the Croatian society with the ISWC and ask for the local show ID. If the society has no record you escalate to your main publisher and consider legal demand for proof of registration and immediate repatriation of sync income plus interest.

Scenario two: The festival plays no one told you about

Your song was played repeatedly at a European festival. You discover this because a friend sent you a shaky phone video. Your statement shows nothing. The sub publisher claims festival organizers did not submit set lists. You contact the festival and request usage logs. You file a claim with the local society for unreported public performance. Festivals are usually required to submit set lists. The society can audit and bill the festival with penalties if the usage was not licensed properly.

Scenario three: The majority aggregator mess

Your digital distributor updated the metadata and changed the publisher entry to a distribution company they work with. That entry splits mechanical and performing fees incorrectly. The distributor says they do not handle publishing registrations. You demand your distributor correct the metadata and provide proof of the update. At the same time you confirm with your publisher and PRO that the correct ISWC and IPIs are connected. Get everything in writing and timestamped. This can prevent future mismatches.

How to run a forensic royalty check

Perform this once a year. It will reveal problems before they become disasters.

1. Export all statements from your PROs and admin services into spreadsheets.
2. Cross reference each line item with your master catalog. Match ISWC and ISRC where available.
3. Flag odd low value entries or long delays between usage and payment.
4. For any foreign entry that seems missing reach out to the society and ask for usage logs and registration evidence.
5. Follow up with written demands and use audit clauses when available.

Common questions musicians ask about sub publishers

Can I register directly with a foreign PRO myself

Sometimes yes. Many societies allow direct registration from foreign rightsholders. The process can be bureaucratic and may require local tax forms or a local bank account. It is viable for larger catalogs or if you have a trusted rep in the country. Doing direct registration reduces one layer of risk but increases your administrative overhead.

What is the difference between administration and publishing

Administration is the day to day management of copyrights such as registrations and licensing. Publishing includes broader rights control and often strategic exploitation. A sub publisher can be an administrator only. Make sure your contract labels what role they actually perform so you do not accidentally give away publishing rights.

How long do societies normally take to pay out

It varies wildly. Some societies pay quarterly. Some pay semi annually. Foreign collections can take months to aggregate before being passed to the home society and then to the publisher. Expect 6 to 12 months in many cross border cases. That is why good reporting and escrow mechanisms matter.

What if my sub publisher claims local tax withholding

Some countries do withhold tax at source. The key is transparency. The sub publisher must provide withholding certificates so you can claim treaty relief or a refund through official channels. Do not accept unexplained deductions.

Is it worth using a global admin service

For many independent artists it is the easiest route. These services provide centralized metadata, one dashboard, standardized reporting and often better technology driven matching. They will not replace careful contract negotiation with larger publishers but they remove many middleman risks.

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