As someone who is frequently immersed in the minutiae of record collecting, I often find myself scanning the small print on album sleeves. I do this primarily to make sure that God and Father Christmas have been properly thanked in the list of credits, but also to check whether the artist uses a vanity publishing company.

I confess that I am completely in the dark as to how this works. Superficially it appears that, instead of publishing their songs under the umbrella of record label, an artist elects to do it themselves. For example, all the songs on the Lou Reed album Street Hassle are published by Metal Machine Music Publ - a name that revisits his greatest critical and commercial success.

In fact the names of publishing companies often seem to be attempts by an artist to sum-up both themselves and their music in a few brief words; the end result combining the stark poetry of a haiku with the directness of a one-line advertising pitch:

Gregarious Jane's Addiction frontman - Perry Farrell - publishes under I'll Hit You Back Music. Others, such as Mark Eitzel of American Music Club (I Failed In Life Music) and Lisa Germano (Emotional Wench Music), are knowingly self-effacing. Some are just plain eccentric. Victoria Williams' songs are published by Mumblety-Peg Music - a name that embodies her arts-and-crafts take on songwriting.

Does anyone know of any other poetically-named publishing companies? Or if that's too tall an order, can anyone suggest some appropriate names for the publishing companies of certain artists?

I move that all self-penned Joss Stone songs, if such things exist, should be published under the banner of Plastic Soul Music. Furthermore that Noel Gallagher should publish using Imitation Lennon Music or, if one really wants to be unkind - Borrowed Tunes.