Royalties are the lifeblood of music publishing. They’re what you get paid for when someone uses your song in their project—like a movie, TV show, or commercial. But there’s more than one type of royalty involved in music publishing, and each one is based on the use of your music. In this post we’ll go over three types of royalties you should know about:
Mechanical royalties are paid to songwriters and music publishers when their songs are recorded and sold on a CD, vinyl record, or digital download. Mechanical royalties are shared with the artist who performed the song (if applicable), as well as record companies who invest in producing and distributing it.
Songwriter royalties are paid when you write your own music, while publisher royalties go to whoever owns the publishing company that controls your work (often your manager).
Performance royalties are paid to songwriters and publishers when their songs are played on the radio, in restaurants, bars, or other public places.
Performance royalties are collected by ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) SESAC (Society Of European Stage Authors & Composers) SoundExchange.
Synchronization (or “blanket”) licenses are a type of music publishing royalty that allows an artist to be paid for their songs being used in the film, television shows, and commercials.
A synchronization license is typically bought by a music supervisor who works for the producer of a movie or TV show. They’ll listen to several songs before deciding which ones fit best with their project’s storyline and theme. When they select one song from an artist’s catalog and decide to use it in their project, they contact that artist’s publisher requesting permission to use their song(s) under license terms agreed upon beforehand by both parties (the publisher and artist).
Understanding the different types of royalties in music publishing is key to getting paid.
Royalty is the money or percent of the amount being earned from a published work, that is allotted to the publisher once a sale is made. The percentages will vary based upon several different factors, but suffice it to say, they are a very good way of making additional income, provided that you have established rights to your music through publishing.
I hope that in reading this article you have gained a better understanding of the many different types of royalties involved with music publishing. This is just a basic explanation but they are quite complex, and many things can occur when you are talking about publishing. I urge any individual who is considering entering the world of music publishing to seek out more information before doing any deals with publishers because it could cost you thousands later on down the road. Have fun writing your songs, and remember these important points!
A song is a simple composition of music, words and melody. It usually has four elements:
The melody of a song is what makes you remember it. It’s the tune, the whistling part that everyone can sing along to. The melody is usually composed by the composer and then performed by either a singer or an instrumentalist (like a piano player). The melody is written in the key of your song which means it’s written to fit in with all of the other chords you’ve chosen for your chord progression.
As you can see, the process of earning royalties involves paying the author, composer, and publisher. In addition, it’s possible to earn royalties based on your ownership of intellectual property. Your ownership of a copyright or composition could mean receiving royalties from digital downloads and streams on platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music. However, if your song is used in TV commercials or movies then there might be additional opportunities for earning money in this way as well.
As a producer who works with other songwriters, I am often asked how much money is made from royalties and where it goes when someone writes songs together. If you’re interested in learning more about how royalty splits work between writers/producers let’s take a look at some examples:
In Nigeria, Royalties are defined as money paid to an author, composer or publisher for each copy of a work sold or a license to publish or broadcast it. Royalties are usually paid by the copyright owner. For example, the songwriter (the writer) might receive a royalty from the record label that publishes his/her songs and distributes them to music stores and radio stations. The publisher is responsible for paying royalties on behalf of their artists who are not yet famous enough to sell their records but whose songwriting talents have been recognized by publishers who wish to profit from these talents by publishing their works instead of allowing them free access in similar situations where they would have had no choice but accept whatever money was offered in exchange for letting others use their songs freely without being compensated fairly
Copyrights are exclusive rights under which owners can utilize their creative works in different ways. They are protected by law, granted for a limited time, and can be sold or transferred.
The two main types of copyrights are sound recording and composition. The sound recording copyright refers to the actual recording itself (i.e., any sounds that you’ve captured on tape or digital media). At the same time, a composition is an actual song itself (lyrics, notes, etc). Each type of copyright has its own set of rules regarding how they should be split up among those involved with creating it; however, several factors can affect how royalties will be distributed when it comes down to sharing credits as well as money earned off sales.
As the owner of a copyright, you may choose to sell or license some of your rights to others for a specific period. The author might grant a publisher the right to publish their book in exchange for royalties, or an artist might grant their record label the right to produce and distribute their record in exchange for royalties. This is called “transferring” rights because those who obtain them are now considered another party with certain privileges and responsibilities that include payment of royalties (usually an ongoing percentage). Copyright owners can also decide not to transfer all their rights when they license something—they may keep some but not others to retain control over how it’s used as well as its quality and integrity.
The majority of songwriters make money from songwriting royalties (50%) while producers typically earn most if not all of their income from producing records (90%). It’s worth considering if you want someone else taking charge while letting them get paid instead.
The creator of a song holds two copyrights for that song; one for the words and music (the composition), and one for the recorded version (the sound recording)
The composer and performer are both entitled to a royalty payment based on their contribution to the overall work, but they are not entitled to any portion of each other’s royalties. The writer is only entitled to his or her share of publishing income.
When it comes to songwriting, there are many different types of royalties. The first type is called mechanical royalties and covers the use of music on CDs and in other forms of sound recordings. For a songwriter or composer to receive these royalties, they must be registered with one or more performing rights organizations (PROs) in their territory before the work is published.
There are also performance royalties which cover any public performances of your work through radio play or TV broadcasting that don’t fall into the category of mechanical rights licensing such as live concerts, festivals etc…
How are sound recording royalties split into a song “Producer Points” is a term you’ll come across if you are researching how your royalties are split. They are the percentage of the royalties the producer of your song is going to get from your sound recording royalties. It’s usually major record deals that work with this point system. If you are an indie musician, you probably won’t need to worry about that. Producers typically get anything from 3 to 7 Producer Points. That means that if the artist gets, for example, 20% of the royalties in a record deal and the producer gets 5 points, the producer is getting 25% percent of the artist’s share of the royalties. That’s because 5 points equal 25% of the artist’s original 20%. The label still keeps 80%. For indie recordings, the system is usually based on the percentage of the net royalties, not on producer points. In an indie deal, the producer may get, for example, 20% or 25% of the artist’s net royalties. The result is not that different from the point system, where 5 producer points out of the artist’s 20 points equals 25%. The producer may also get an upfront fee for their recording services. This fee is negotiable and can vary depending on the producer’s percentage of the net royalties. If you have money for a larger upfront fee, say $2000, you may negotiate a smaller percentage of the net royalties for your producer. The same works if you don’t have that much money for the fee. You can negotiate a smaller upfront fee and a larger percentage of your net royalties to your producer.
If you are an independent artist and you already know what are royalties in music, it’s time that you understand how are royalties split on a song. There are different categories of royalties in music, like Performance Royalties, Mechanical Royalties, and Sync Royalties. They can either be reserved for the songwriters and the publishers, or for the artists that played on the master and producer. In some cases, the same royalties go to both parties. If you are the only songwriter of your music and you record and produce it on your own, the royalties are all yours! You own 100% of it. However, if there are more people involved in the making of your art, you should probably know how your royalties will be split.