Refreshing, because nobody who could help Janne has seen this yet.

You might be better off talking to a copyright lawyer. If the songwriter's in the UK, and I'd guess he is, I'd get in touch with the MCPS (which might possibly stand for the 'Mechanical Copyright Protection Something'). I believe they're the organization in the UK that make sure the correct people get the correct money, and they'd be able to answer questions.

I might be completely wrong about this, but I'm guessing, based on common sense, that the law will care more about the results than the procedure. In other words, who cares whether it's you or the publisher who pays the song's author, as long as he's paid his fair share AND the publisher's paid theirs. Please do NOT take my word for it, though.