Micah Pollock, Weldon Spring MO
Connection and protection are king in songwriting. If a song is not properly licensed and connected to various entities, it could result in significant lost revenue and possibly stolen songs or ideas. “We are the frontline of defense,” says Micah Pollock, Director of Weldon Music Publishing. “We help ensure songwriters are being paid correctly, we monitor and help stop the misuse of works, we try to help get songs into the hands of other artists to record, we establish, cultivate, and leverage relationships with distribution partnerships, and we try to help educate consumers, signed songwriters, and arrangers in various areas of copyright, marketplace changes, and competitor data.”
Weldon Music Publishing is a music publishing company that was recently started under and in conjunction with the UPCI Music Ministry. “The publishing company was something that many people, like Bro. Tim Pedigo and Bro. Laird Sillimon, have wanted for years,” explains Bro. Pollock. “While working in the music industry for over seventeen years, I was able to make a great connection with Bro. Hoffee. He and I shared a great passion for seeing Apostolic artists and songwriters succeed. After talking with Bro. Hoffee for a little over two years and discussing the importance of this business, the Lord opened the door and allowed us the opportunity to start in September of 2020. “Seeing Apostolic music succeed and be recognized is something that I have always been passionate about. I’ve also seen numerous artists/songwriters walk away from our Apostolic movement due to not having a protective covering in place to help them realize the true value of their work in various areas and our prayer is to help prevent this from being the case going forward.”
Music publishing is needed to help protect, defend, and promote a songwriter’s song/composition. “In order for that to happen it must be licensed and connected to several entities,” said Bro. Pollock. “We basically try to provide an industry hedge of protection around the songwriter and song. Music publishing is the contractual relationship between a songwriter/music composer and a music publisher. The songwriter assigns the management of his or her copyrights to the publisher in exchange for the publisher’s commercial utilization of the music resulting in financial gain for the songwriter or music composer. In essence, a publisher is a person or company that handles the business side of music.”
Created for all Apostolic songwriters, the benefit is that you have someone else taking care of the business side of your songwriting/song and working to make sure that it is connected and protected. “You basically have a business partner that works for you and your song,” said Bro. Pollock. “The feedback has been exciting and positive considering that things are still very early in the process. In less than a year, we have been able to get one of our songs featured in CCM Magazine, we’re currently able to get our new releases on a national new release website that features all Christian music releases, and we have an account with a national radio marketer that is available to help promote songs if desired. We have also had another organization’s college choir using one of our songs on their choir tour this fall. Other companies have started showing interest in some of our songs as well. This is something that I know is just the beginning of great things and successes that are soon to come.”
For more information, anyone interested is welcome to contact Bro. Pollock via email at info@weldonmusicpublishing.com.