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John Mayer, part of the Sony/ATV roster

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As Co-President US of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Danny Strick works with a roster of artists that includes John Mayer, Fall Out Boy, System Of A Down, Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers, Sara Bareilles and One Republic, among others.

The music industry veteran also works closely with Sony/ATV's licensing of the presitgious Beatles' and Leiber/Stoller catalogues. "Any time you get a phone call involving The Beatles, it's still a thrill," he says. "You can't believe you're talking about The Beatles to somebody."

Thanks to an unbroken string of hits, Strick and the Sony/ATV team are riding high on the charts. But the music biz heavyweight stresses he's still on the lookout for the next star-in-the-making.

Strick admits that, of all the facets in the business, music publishing is perhaps the least understood, so he sat down recently with MusicRadar to discuss the ins and outs of the field, and more importantly, how you can hope to score a publishing deal in 2009.

"A publisher takes bets on new talent and hopes they pay off and go on to generate income for the next generation" Danny Strick, Sony/ATV Co-President

A lot of people want to know, what does a music publisher do?

"That depends on the publisher. Most of the major music publishers are in a combined business. They tend to have catalogue - in the case of Sony/ATV, that's Lennon and McCartney. But there's a lot of great country songs, such as Roy Orbison copyrights out of the Acuff Rose catalogue. So you're the steward of these copyrights and you obviously want to collect the money that they generate in a professional way."

The Beatles

"Plus, you want to exploit those catalogues and songs and build the revenue base both for yourself and for the writers or their estates in terms of commercials, if they're tasteful, or place them in films and television, and all the new media ways you can generate revenue.

"Alongside that, you're building your catalogue base by signing new writers, writer-producers, artists-writers who have record deals or need record deals; you're hooking writers into projects, hooking producers into projects; and all the while, a publisher takes bets on new talent and hopes they pay off and go on to generate income for the next generation."

After you sign a songwriter or artist, how closely do you work with him or her?

"Some writers or producers or artists come in and just want an advance. They really don't want or need a creative relationship with a publisher; they just need you to collect their money and pay them and make sure their money is collected by performing rights societies around the world, mechanical royalties from record companies, and places like iTunes and all their digital and mobile income."

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