Earned income and your own publishing company

The publisher’s shares will be paid to your publishing company without any tax being withheld if the company is in the tax prepayment register. Otherwise, tax will be withheld on the publisher’s share. Your personal share of the royalties is earned income that is taxed on the basis of your personal taxation. 

Prerequisites for setting up your own publishing company:

• Your company has a business ID / VAT number
• Your company joins Teosto as a publisher member
  • In order to become a member, you must verify your company’s music publishing activities. See the verification instructions. 
• You take care of the music publisher’s duties, such as the marketing of your music and registering your music, in the name of your publishing company. 
• You are aware that running your own publishing company is a business activity that requires, among other things, accounting and the prepayment of taxes. 

You can find more information on publisher membership on the Services for Music Publishers page

Increasing the publisher’s royalty share 

Teosto’s distribution rules define the publishing company’s shares of the royalties for published works. According to the distribution rules, the publisher’s share of the distribution for the work is usually 33.3%, but in special cases the share may be higher, but no more than 50%.  

If you want to enter into a publishing agreement with your own publishing company so that the publisher’s share paid to your company will be 50%, you must apply for an increased publisher’s share from Teosto’s Repertoire Committee. The special agreement concerning the increased publisher’s share may be for a maximum of five years at a time, but it is possible to renew the agreement.