Offbeat Publishing exists to protect artists copyright, recovering royalty payments from broadcasting, sales and live performance both in Ireland and abroad as the music spreads around the world. The Artist retains complete control of the music, we take just 15% to cover our administration costs. To prove our honesty with our artists we keep open accounts artists can see at any time and if the artist is unhappy with our service for any reason that we cannot resolve amicably the artist can walk away.

Q. What is Publishing?

A. In the world of music publishing used to mean printing the sheet music. That was then proof of ones copyright, and the only source of revenue for the composer in the days before recorded music or performance royalties.
Nowadays however this has changed. The sheet music is not as important as the recorded media in the digital age, and there are many more sources of revenue available to the writers and peformers of music. Publishers nowadays perform three significant functions:-

1) Registering musical works to establish copyright (registering your works in Ireland provides eligibility for artists tax exemption ).

2) Recouping artist Royalties. We have agreements with IMRO, MCPS, PPI and similar organisations outside of Ireland to maximise the return from your music.

3) Promoting the compositions in the world of multimedia - TV, film and advertising. At present we do not provide this service, but we do have plans to develop our contact base in the London/Dublin advertising & film makers market. (TV is not lucrative as companies pay blanket license fees allowing them to use any music they wish).

Q. What does Offbeat Publishing offer?

A. We undertake parts 1) & 2) above, registering you as an artist, registering your songs as compositions, and registering your recordings with the relevant tracking agencies. If you are also signed to Offbeat Records we will encode our own digital tracking codes to the recordings themselves, automating the process of royalty tracking and making sure you get paid every time it gets played. We will protect your compositions and recover all royalties due to you from broadcasting, sales and live performance in Ireland and abroad. We will register you for artists tax exemption. We will do all the paperwork required and take just 15% to cover our costs. No upfront fees, we get paid when you get paid.

Q. Will you develop licensing to film and multimedia?

A. Yes. As our client base expands we will have more to offer producers.

Q. What Royalties does Offbeat Publishing collect?

A. Most people do not realise that there aren't just royalties for radio or TV airplay. There are royalties charged at point of sale (paid by the shop) when the music sells as a CD or download, and when the recording is played in public - in a bar or a shop. There are also royalties due whenever you play your own songs at a gig - the venue pays a live music entertainment license which goes back to the songwiter, BUT ONLY IF IT IS CLAIMED. Unclaimed royalties from live performance are only held for one year, after which time they are lost, so claims must be made regularly (usually every six months). Clearly it is vital that you REGISTER NOW to avoid losing any more of your hard earned cash. We help you claim all of the above.

Q. So i could have earned Royalties already?

A. Yes. If you are a gigging musician playing original material you are due royalties. The more you claim, the more you earn, because at least part on IMROs payment process (collected from partially/poorly tracked sources) is based on a percentage from artist activity, so if you look busy, you get more!

Q. Does it cost me anything to sign up?

A. No. We only take 15% from your royalty payments when they come through, until then we don't get a penny.

Q. How long does the agreement last?

A. The publishing agreement lasts for 3 years from the date of signature, and will be renewed by signature thereafter.

Q. And what if I want to finish our contract?

A. You are free to cancel the contract at any time and you will retain control of all your work from that point, but we retain the publishing right to an option on any works registered with us up to that time. New material written after the end of the contract reverts to your own publishing control. If you find a better offer from a third party publisher we will require 15% of any signing fee in order to transfer your extant catalog to them, this is necessary to protect our interests, but should not directly cost you a penny. If you are simply dissatisfied with our service and wish to cancel the contract to personally recover publishing rights to your material we will require 15% of the last 6 months royalties as a settlement fee - thus if you have earned no royalties it will cost you nothing to leave.

Q. How do I sign up?

A. Email:publishing@offbeatrecords.ie or with your website address and contact details and we will be in touch, or phone Chris 086 378 3185 and we can get the ball rolling...