Historically, the music publishers were the persons or companies that started proactively seeking written music for resale in the 1850’s. In that era, the demand existed because that was the only possible way of hearing new music, as radios or the phonograms hadn’t been invented yet, so the music publishers printed and sold sheet music by the millions. As time went by, however, the industry changed, and the music publisher adapted into becoming the person that manages the development, recuperation and redistribution of the money due to the artist, that is owed through copyrights. He also scouts for new talent in the industry.

Today, the music publisher is one of the most important allies to artists that want to navigate through the industry, as his role fundamentally consists into developing the worth of the artist’s material, and hence sees interest in anything that can make the career of the artist move forward.