Royalties $$$

The music industry relies on royalties generated by the licensing of copyrighted songs and recordings as a primary form of payment for musicians. A “royalty” is a payment made to an asset owner for the right to use that asset. A “royalty interest” is the right to collect a share of future royalty payments.

When you release a new song, make sure you get the most for your work by understanding which of the four types of royalties apply to you. Between mechanical royalties, performance royalties, synch royalties, and print music royalties, it's entirely possible to make a decent living as a musician.

1. Mechanical Royalties

Mechanical royalties are paid out whenever a copy of a song is made. Think back to the days of records and cassettes. Whenever music was reproduced, it required a “mechanical” process to reproduce it.

Of course, times have changed, and nothing is mechanical anymore. Most modern mechanical royalties come from streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music, but only when a listener plays your song on-demand or downloads it. When your song plays over a streaming radio service, it’s a different type of royalty (which we’ll get to).

Mechanical royalty rates are set by the U.S. Copyright Act. Most of the time, rates land around $0.06 per 100 on-demand streams. So, if someone listens to your song 100 times on Spotify, you’ll get $0.06. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you get into the thousands or millions of streams, that money can really add up. If your listeners play your song 1.6 million times, you’ll earn $1,000 in mechanical royalties.

In the United States, mechanical royalties are collected and distributed by the Harry Fox Agency and the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Companies like Songtrust and Cdbaby also collects Mechanical royalties.

2. Performance Royalties

In some instances, replaying your copyrighted songs aren’t considered reproductions; they’re performances. This is typically when your songs are played in public places, such as:

On the radio
In a bar or restaurant
Radio service like Spotify or Pandora (not for on-demand streaming or downloads)

To start earning performance royalties, you’ll need to register your song with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) like BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, SOCAN (Canada), or PRS (UK). They’ll then split the royalty between songwriter royalties and publishing royalties. You’ll get the songwriter royalties, while your publishing company (if you work with one) will get the publishing royalties.

Links:

https://www.ascap.com/ : https://www.bmi.com/creators : https://www.soundexchange.com/who-we-are/

3. Synch Royalties

Music always makes videos, movies, and games better. But like any other reproduction of copyrighted work, it’s costs money! When someone “synchs” your music to a visual media like a movie, TV show, YouTube video, video game, commercial, etc., you’ll get paid synch royalties.

Synch royalties are typically one-time fees. If a company wants to use your song in a commercial, they’ll pay the royalties once for the life of the commercial. Once the song is synched, it’s authorized for use in that particular visual media forever.

4. Print Music Royalties

Whenever you wander through a music store, you’ll likely see entire walls of print music and tabs to teach musicians how to play popular songs. Since they aren’t reproductions or productions of the song, they need a special type of royalty.

Print music royalties are just like they sound: They’re royalties that come from the sale of sheet music. These royalties are typically split between the songwriters and the publishers. Naturally, this type of royalty applies only to songwriters who release their songs as sheet music. If you focus mainly on mechanical and performance royalties, it’s not uncommon for musicians to not get any print music royalties.

Obviously, most music is digital these days. If you want to learn how to play a certain song, most people just Google it! Print music royalties are typically very small compared to other music revenue streams, but they still exist—especially for composers and musicians who create full-ensemble or concert music.

If you’re unsure about which types of royalties you’re entitled to, it’s a good idea to speak to an attorney. It can be complicated to determine what applies to your situation and which steps to take. You worked hard to create your music, and you deserve to get paid! Get the royalties you’ve earned.

All information and for more go to https://www.songwriting.net/blog/4-types-of-royalties-involved-in-music-publishing

Performing Right Organization

What are performing rights organizations (PROs)?

PROs, or performing rights organizations, help collect public performance royalties on behalf of songwriters and publishers. This means that if you’re a songwriter, you can get paid every time a song you wrote gets broadcasted or performed publicly.

PROs facilitate this process by:

granting licenses to venues, radio stations, and businesses to use their catalog of music in exchange for a fee
tracking how often each song gets played and, therefore, how much royalty money is owed to songwriters and publishers
collecting and distributing royalties to relevant parties

PROs collect just one type of royalty—public performance royalties. In very broad strokes, every original song has two types of music copyright:

Composition rights (sometimes called publishing rights) are tied to the lyrics and melody of the song. For example, if Artist A writes and records a song and Artist B later records a cover of it, Artist A still owns the composition rights because they wrote the lyrics and melody.
Master rights (sometimes called recording rights) are tied to the sound recording. In that same example, Artist B would own the master rights to the cover because they’ve created their own recording.

Public performance royalties vs. mechanical royalties

Composition rights generate two main types of royalties: public performance royalties and mechanical royalties. Master rights also generate different types of royalties, but we won’t get into it in this article.

Public performance royalties get generated and paid to songwriters and publishers any time their song (an original recording or cover) is broadcast or performed in public.

This includes things like:

songs played on AM or FM radio
songs played in a TV show, movie, or commercial
songs performed live, either by the original artist or another artist
songs played in a public setting like a restaurant, store, dentist’s office, etc.

These are the royalties collected by PROs. If you don’t sign up with a PRO and register the songs you’ve written, you’d be missing out on all this revenue.

Meanwhile, mechanical royalties get generated and paid to songwriters and publishers any time their song (an original recording or cover) is reproduced in a physical or digital format.

This includes things like:

Producing a CD or vinyl with the song on it
Someone purchasing a digital download of the song

Interactive streams—when someone chooses to stream a song on a digital streaming platform—generate both performance and mechanical royalties.

Mechanical royalties aren’t collected by PROs—they’re collected by mechanical rights societies and accessed by publishers or publishing administrators.

When Should I Join a PRO?

You may want to consider registering with a PRO if you’re involved in writing music that will be available to the public. Whether you write the song for yourself or for another artist, or whether you write 100% or 25% of it, you’re entitled to receiving public performance royalties for it. If you co-write with other songwriters, you might consider maintaining a split sheet that states what percentage of the song is written by each writer and, therefore, how the royalties should be split.

You may also want to look into PROs if you’re a music publisher who’s representing other songwriters.

It’s important to note that PROs pay royalties to songwriters and publishers at a 50/50 split. If you don’t have a publisher or a publishing administrator, you’ll need to register with the PRO twice—once as a songwriter and once as a publisher—in order to collect both shares. If you don’t do this, the PRO will keep the publisher’s share and you’ll miss out on 50% of the performance royalties you’re owed.

All information above and more regarding PRO's can be found at the link below

https://splice.com/blog/performing-rights-organizations-guide/

Song Uploading Walkthrough

Different PRO's & Sound Exchange

ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)

ASCAP is a non-profit home to over 585,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers. It is the only performing rights organization in the US-owned and governed by songwriters, composers, and publishers. ASCAP's Board of Directors is made up entirely of writers and publishers elected by its members every two years.

Fee: One-time fee of $50 as a writer. $50 as a publisher.

Requirements: Legal name. Mailing address, Valid email address. SSN/ITIN. Must be 18 years old to apply.

To collect your publisher's share of royalties as an ASCAP member, you must have an ASCAP publishing company.

BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.)

Founded by radio executives as a non-profit, BMI now boasts more than 700,000 members. According to its website, "BMI is the bridge between songwriters and the businesses and organizations that play their music publicly…BMI serves as an advocate for the value of music, representing nearly 12 million musical works created and owned by more than 700,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers."

Fee: Free for songwriters. $150 as a publisher.

Requirements: Valid email address.

You do not need a publishing company to collect your publisher's share of royalties at BMI.

SESAC

SESAC is the only US-based Music Rights Organization that administers public performance, mechanical, synchronization, and other rights. The organization represents over 400,000 songs on behalf of its 30,000 affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Additionally, SESAC pays royalties monthly rather than quarterly. Its site reads, "With an international reach and a vast repertory that spans virtually every genre of music, SESAC is the most innovative and most technologically adept of the nation's performing rights organizations."

Fee: None.

Requirements: SESAC is not open to all songwriters. You must receive an invitation to join.

Sound Exchange

SoundExchange is often referred to as another PRO in the US, but it’s actually a different type of organization.

SoundExchange collects non-interactive digital performance royalties on behalf of artists and labels (i.e. on the master rights side of things, as opposed to composition rights).

Non-interactive streams, then, are streams that listeners don’t get to choose. Pandora and SiriusXM radio are great examples of streaming services that operate this way.

These non-interactive digital performance royalties are NOT collected by PROs, so if you’re also an artist, registering with a PRO like SoundExchange is an important step in collecting them. If you’re based outside of the US, look for a neighboring rights organization in your country

All information above and more can be found at the link below

https://blog.songtradr.com/what-is-a-performance-rights-organization/