Q&A: Record Label vs. Music Publishing Company?

Question by Jennifer: Record Label vs. Music Publishing Company?
So this might be a stupid question… I was wondering if there is any difference between a “record label” and a “music publishing company”

The specific situation I am wondering about is this:
I was on the Warner/Chappell Music website, they claim to be a “music publishing company”, a division of Warner Bros. Music. Makes sense.
And the company lists Kevin Rudolf as one of their artists… They posted a recently published album of his on their website.. but under “label” it says Cash Money Records…. which is the part I am confused by.. shouldn’t their label be Warner??…

I noticed a bunch of their artists have random labels listed, like Capitol, Reprise, Interscope, Fueled By Ramen… etc.. now, i know some of these are owned by Warner.. but others (like Cash Money Records and Capitol) are completely unrelated to Warner..

if anyone took the time to read and understand that.. haha can you help me out?

Best answer:

Answer by Brianna H
I’ll try to make this as clear as possible since it’s a bit hard to describe exactly. A music publisher or publishing company is one who looks after your copy rights. You cede the company the rights to your music through a contract, and they will in return, collect your royalties and look after your monetary rights. Much like and administrator.

A record label involves all of the parts comprehended from recording to merchandising to distributing (including publishing rights). Sometimes artists will sign a publishing contract before getting in touch with a record label (publishers don’t risk anything by signing with an artist so it’s much easier to sign with one) and in order to avoid the breach of contract with them, they sign with a recording company but let the publishing to the prior one.

Do i make sense?

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