---
title: Administration deal vs co-publishing: fee or copyright
publisher: RapCanon
canonical: https://rapcanon.com/glossary/administration-deal/
license: CC-BY-4.0
retrieved: 2026-08-12
---

> An administration deal is an agreement in which a publisher registers, collects and licenses a writer's catalogue for a percentage fee, without taking ownership of the copyrights.

Glossary · Ownership

 
# Administration deal

 
also filed under: admin deal, publishing administration

 
 

 
 An administration deal is an agreement in which a publisher registers, collects and licenses a writer's catalogue for a percentage fee, without taking ownership of the copyrights. 

 
## The mechanism

 
The administrator handles registration with collection societies worldwide, chases income, issues licences and accounts to the writer, keeping an agreed commission on what it collects. The writer retains the copyright throughout, and at the end of the term the catalogue leaves with them.

 
## A worked example

 A writer signs an administration deal at a commission rate. Income is collected globally and remitted less that percentage. When the term expires, the writer's copyrights are unaffected and can move elsewhere. 

 A fee is temporary. A copyright share is not. 

 
## What it is confused with

 - Co-publishing deal A co-publishing deal takes a share of the copyright. An administration deal takes only a fee, which is why admin rates look higher per dollar while costing far less over the life of the work.
- Distribution fee Distribution fees relate to recordings. Administration relates to compositions. The structures rhyme but the assets are different.
 

 
## Why it matters

 
It is the cheapest structure available for a writer who mainly needs global registration and collection rather than capital, and it is the one most often skipped because it comes with no advance to say yes to.

 
Sources: US Copyright Office
 This entry is part of an open dataset published under CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution.
 Related: Recoupment · Black box royalties · 360 deal

---

## How to cite this page

**APA**
RapCanon. (2026). Administration deal vs co-publishing: fee or copyright. Retrieved from https://rapcanon.com/glossary/administration-deal/

**BibTeX**
```bibtex
@misc{rapcanon-glossary-administration-deal,
  title  = {Administration deal vs co-publishing: fee or copyright},
  author = {{RapCanon}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://rapcanon.com/glossary/administration-deal/},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-08-12}
}
```

**Wikipedia**
```
{{cite web |title=Administration deal vs co-publishing: fee or copyright |url=https://rapcanon.com/glossary/administration-deal/ |publisher=RapCanon |access-date=2026-08-12}}
```

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Canonical HTML: https://rapcanon.com/glossary/administration-deal/