The publisher share is the 50% of publishing royalties that a music publisher can claim in exchange for administering, exploiting, and sometimes advancing the songwriter's catalog. Independent writers without a publisher keep 100% of this share — which is why retaining the publisher share is one of the biggest financial decisions in a songwriting career.

In a standard 75/25 publishing deal, the publisher takes 75% of the publisher share (37.5% of total royalties) in exchange for an upfront advance + active exploitation. In a co-publishing deal (50/50), they take half. In a pure admin deal, they take 0% of the share but charge a flat commission on collected royalties (typically 15-25%) — keeping the writer 100% of both shares minus admin commission.

A Producer Tour admin deal at 20% commission means the writer keeps 100% of both songwriter and publisher shares, then pays 20% on top for administration services.