Inside the Playbook: Jacob Paul on Mechanical Royalties

If you’re an independent artist, producer, or songwriter, there’s a good chance you’re doing the loud part right (streams, content, growth) while missing the quiet part that builds real stability: music publishing royalties.

In this clip, Jacob breaks down the two buckets creators overlook the most, mechanical royalties and international publishing royalties, and why “I’ll set it up later” is one of the most expensive sentences in the music business. Publishing is a system: song registrations, splits, metadata, and global collection. When it’s built correctly, your songwriting catalog can compound into a real residual business, an asset you can leverage, sell, or pass down.

We also talk directly to producers: if you contributed to the composition (not just the master recording), you should be negotiating for publishing splits and registering them consistently. Because unclaimed royalties don’t wait forever, after a window, they can become unallocated and end up in the black box, redistributed based on market share. The scale of the problem is massive, and the fix is boring, but profitable.

Simply put, a conversation like this doesn't come cheap.

If you’re earning publishing income, make sure you’re collecting all of it. KOSIGN, powered by Kobalt, offers direct global publishing collections and real-time royalty transparency in a flexible, artist-friendly format. It’s highly selective, but free to apply here: https://bit.ly/4b438pj

Listen to the full episode here -

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5z09vVzFlYNzibGHcwW32U?si=2FWliP1CTUue2D8JCDt60Q

Watch the Episodes On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@managersplaybook