I believe the publisher is the one that licenses the song and approves along with the artist where it gets used. It's like ASCAP or BMI, one of the publishing companies that tracks it's use, where it's played... how much it's played etc. They collect fees for the songs performance in public, or it's use, and pay the artist their royalty fees based on that. Whom ever the song writers are, are the ones to collect royalty payments for it's use.
I think that's how it works.
It's not just a matter of Merrill Lynch calling up FM and asking for the use of the song. Plus the amount of seconds the song is played plays into the cash generated as well, like if they only play 10 or 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds, there's a different rate of payout to the artist.
|