Bookmark this page and take a deep breath. And many of us use these terms interchangeably. One of these clauses is the infamous Controlled Composition Clause. This is part of the reason why so many established artists and songwriters have jumped ship from their major labels and major publishers and headed over to Kobalt. Just take a look at their roster. Before the digital age, royalties were difficult to track.

But there were fewer platforms to consume music, so there were far fewer royalty streams to worry about. But they can be tracked much easier through sonic recognition and content ID software. For indie artists without a label or a publisher, you have to know what these royalties are and know where and how to get them.

Artists record sound recordings. Rihanna is an artist. Record labels represent artists.

A band is an artist. A rapper is an artist. A singer is an artist. Typically whatever name is on the album, is the artist. Songwriters write the compositions. Sia Furler, Benjamin Levin, Mikkel S. Eriksen, and Tor Erik Hermansen.

Publishing companies represent songwriters. Traditionally, labels because they own the master , collect royalties for sound recordings. Sound recordings are not to be confused with compositions. This is the song. Traditionally, publishing companies because they own the composition and represent songwriters collect royalties for compositions. In the US, these are ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. In Canada this is SOCAN.

These organizations represent songwriters NOT artists. This is not a deal you negotiate. This is just how they do it for everyone from Taylor Swift down to you and me. Any songwriter in the US can sign up for ASCAP or BMI without being invited or having to apply. ASCAP and BMI are both not-for-profit organizations, SESAC is for profit and you must be accepted.

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers represents , members songwriters and publishers and over 10 million compositions. ASCAP is owned and run by its songwriter and publisher members with an elected board. They represent songwriters like Katy Perry, Dr. Dre, Marc Anthony, Chris Stapleton, Ne-Yo, Trisha Yearwood, Brandi Carlile, Lauryn Hill, Jimi Hendrix, Bill Withers, Carly Simon, Quincy Jones, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, annnnnd Ari Herstand.

They represent songwriters like Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, Mariah Carey, John Legend, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Maroon 5, Michael Jackson, Linkin Park, Sam Cook, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Fats Domino, Rihanna, John Williams and Danny Elfman.

SESAC is not an acronym… really. It represents over 30, members songwriters and publishers and over , compositions. They represent songwriters like Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, RUSH, Zac Brown, Lady Antebellum, The Avett Brothers, Shirley Caesar, Paul Shaffer and Thompson Square. You cannot be a member of ASCAP and BMI. So you have to make a choice. Find out what the PROs are in your country and pick one and sign up. You must do this to get paid all of your money.

You can also sign up for direct deposit which expedites this entire process. This is a far easier option. If you distribute through CD Baby, use CD Baby Pro.

Some people call them digital aggregators. The biggest digital distribution companies for indie artists are CD Baby, DistroKid and Tunecore.

I reviewed them and 6 others in this piece. HFA handles US mechanical royalties what are mechanical royalties? They are hired by companies like Spotify to calculate and pay out mechanical royalties to publishers.

HFA represents 48, publishers. They have streamlined licensing services their program is called Slingshot for companies needing to license music. HFA calculates, collects and pays mechanical royalties.

Admin publishing companies like SongTrust , CD Baby , Tunecore and Audiam will collect mechanical royalties for you if you signup for their publishing programs.

Read my comparison between CD Baby Pro and Tunecore Publishing. HFA was recently bought by SESAC. Admin stands for administration. All publishing companies have an admin department. They also have a synch licensing department.

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And many other departments. But, admin publishing companies have started popping up over the past few years to help unrepped songwriters like you and me collect all the royalties out there from around the world.

Again, companies like SongTrust, CD Baby, Tunecore and Audiam are some admin publishing companies who will do this. Note, Audiam technically describes itself as a digital rights management company — but they will collect your mechanical royalties and YouTube money. Synch stands for synchronization. A synch license is needed to synch music to picture.

TV shows, movies, commercials, video games all need a sync license to legally put a song alongside their picture get it? Technically, so does YouTube and you, when you make a cover video and upload it. A publisher remember, publishers represent songwriters and compositions , could legally get YouTube to remove your cover if they wanted. But no publishers are really doing this because they realize how great the promotion is.

And, YouTube is now monetizing cover videos and getting the publishers and songwriters paid through ad revenue. Some musicians have expressed to me their reluctance to put up covers on YouTube for which they have not obtained the proper licenses.

The honest folk of the world. I applaud your ethics. But, there IS a very easy way to release cover songs, like on iTunes not videos, songs. Read about how to do that here. Licensing companies work to get your music placed in TV shows, movies, trailers, commercials and video games.

Independent licensing companies have been popping up left and right over the past 10 years. Before that and still currently all the synch licensing was done within publishing companies.

All publishing companies have synch licensing divisions. Licensing companies typically only represent artists who are also the sole songwriters. Licensing companies are one stop shops for music supervisors. They want to make it easy as possible for the ad agency or TV show to use the song.

Licensing companies can clear the songs immediately for the music supervisors. So if you co-write with anyone, FIRST make sure they are NOT signed to a publishing company if they are, it makes things very difficult and will almost certainly prevent a licensing company from working with you — or rather repping that song.

And make sure you get in writing email is fine , that you have full rights to the song to license without getting permission from your co-writers. However, there are literally hundreds more.

Also, there are music library and licensing companies like Triple Scoop Music, Audiosocket and Music Bed that specialize in issuing inexpensive synch licenses for wedding photographers, corporations for in house training videos and indie film makers. This can help you bring in some extra dough. These kinds of companies are definitely worth looking into. But these can add up. There are a bunch of these music library companies out there.

Most are quite selective about what songs they bring on to keep their quality up. But they all take applications from unknowns. Most are non-exclusive, meaning you can work with a bunch of them. Again, DO NOT pay anything up front. Run away to this comment section and let us know who these scam artists are!

A lot of people confuse SoundExchange with PROs. And when most in the biz discuss PROs they are just referring to the aforementioned ASCAP, BMI, SESAC. SoundExchange represent artists and labels whereas the other PROs represent songwriters and publishers.

But, SoundExchange has agreements with 20 foreign collections agencies. When your music is played in their territory, they pay SoundExchange, and SoundExchange pays you.

Like the PROs, the outlets pay an annual fee for the blanket license. BUT, SoundExchange ONLY collects digital royalties. This, unfortunately, can only be changed by passing a bill in Congress. Pardon my American English. But, interestingly enough I know this stuff is SOOO interesting — stay with me! The Songwriter Equity Act bi-partisan has been in Congress for about two years now to make this change.

But Congress moves slower than an Adele ballad but contains about the same number of tears shed. And to just complicate matters worse, not ALL digital radio services work with SoundExchange but 2, do.

You can find a full list of who SoundExchange collects from here. Performer, Sound Recording Copyright Owner or Both. When I did this, I had to email in a complicated Excel doc with lots of info. Plan a weekend to do all of this. Contact the American Federation of Musicians AFM union to grab this moolah!

And, best thing, Re: Sound unlike SoundExchange WILL collect royalties from commercial, terrestrial radio and other non-digital venues for you! So, just to clarify, here is a breakdown for the royalties Artists and Songwriters earn and how to get them:. See the list of who to use and not use here.

BandCamp and Loudr also sell downloads, but unlike iTunes, they are artist managed stores and you get sales revenue directly from BandCamp and Loudr.

How Music Royalties Work | HowStuffWorks

Streaming revenue to artists is WAY more than the mechanicals paid to songwriters. Either videos you upload or fan made cat videos with your sound recordings can generate ad revenue that you can collect. How To Get Paid: Most digital distribution companies have this option via an opt-in check box. You can see which do and which do not on this chart. These days, most music supervisors the people who place the music , will just pay you an indie artist a bulk amount for both the master use license and the sync license because most indie artists wrote and recorded the song.

Directly from the TV studio, ad agency for a commercial , production company for a movie or trailer , or game company. And these definitely add up. And that was for hanging out at a fake barbecue holding a can of Limearita and laughing on cue a lot. You can check here to see if you have outstanding royalties. Or, contact SAG-AFTRA directly and give them your info when you have music played on TV.

For some reason politics , American movie theaters are exempt from needing a public performance license and no one gets paid when songs are played in movie theaters. However, royalties are generated for Foreign outside the US movie theaters. And for an international smash, it could add up to be some serious cheddar. The system is currently being worked out and not everything is tracked yet, but eventually, say, in a few years, it will be.

Kobalt is leading this front. Hopefully ASCAP, BMI and SESAC follow suit and improve their tracking systems. ASCAP states that they supplement this data with station logs and other technology vendors and methods that capture ads, promos and themes and background music. BMI also uses sampling. But, had ASCAP had a census instead of sample tracking system setup, I would have. Hopefully, this will change soon.

Both ASCAP and BMI have a program where you can import your setlist and venue information to get you paid for your live performance royalties for performing your originals in a club, theater, grocery store, arena, wherever.

Your PRO ASCAP , BMI , SESAC , SOCAN. Mechanical royalties are earned when a song is streamed, downloaded or purchased like a CD or vinyl. In America, the rate is set by the US government. However, for nearly everywhere else in the world, mechanicals get collected by local collections agencies BEFORE the money gets to your distributor.

Like SoundExchange, these international collections agencies will hold onto this money for about 3 years until a publisher comes and claims it. You technically could try to do this by calling up collections agencies in every country, but I just recommend going with an admin pub company. See my comparison between CD Baby Pro and Tunecore Publishing.

And that includes any video on YouTube by you or anyone else: As long as it has your compositions in it, it earns a public performance royalty. In addition to performance royalties, you can earn a percentage of the ad revenue generated from the video. Again, any video on YouTube that has your composition in it uploaded by you or anyone else can get an ad placed on it and start generating revenue. Your admin publishing company will handle this. Yeah, you can see the difficulty.

Some admin publishing companies and YouTube collections companies are better at tracking this than others. Others have other systems in place. But you can always ask your company how they do it. Like the master use license, any TV show, movie, commercial or video game requires a synchronization synch for short license to put the composition alongside their picture.

Follow him on Twitter: Most artists use samples in their records, either from legitimate sample libraries like Kontakt, BFD, etc. However, YouTube itself does allow the use of cleared samples, so you can monetize UGC if you sign up with ContentID directly instead. What are you talking about? Sounds and samples coming from legitimate, royalty-free sample libraries like the ones you cited are already cleared for commercial uses.

They are specifically made for other musicians to use them within a track, and to transform them again if they wich to. That is not to be confused with music libraries, where a piece of music is licensed to you for use with an accomapnying video or website or other media. And not to be confused either with the act of sampling a bit of music to be used within a new piece of music and for wich you need to clear the sample first.

You can not use Audiam, Tunecore or any other company to monetize UGC on YouTube if your music contains samples from the kind of legitimate libraries or keyboards we mention here. No — because I already did for you and for everybody else! These rules are not set by Tunecore or Audiam, but by Youtube. As mentioned above, YouTube does indeed allow artists to monetize tracks that include the type of non-exclusive legitimate samples we are discussing here.

But artists need to sign up with ContentID directly to do so. And CD Baby has similar rules: Please note that I explicitly asked all three companies about their politics on legitimate sample libraries, such as Kontakt and BFD and samples from common keyboards.

I thought those clips were totally royalty-free usage. You are completely mis-interpreting what they are telling you. Go and read the license agreement with BFD or Spectrasonics — most tell you that as long as their sounds are used within a composition, and not exposed, i.

I have released many, many songs using BFD, EWQLSO, Omnisphere, RMX, etc… through CD Baby, tunecore, and have monetized my videos with no issues whatsoever.

Not only that but I compose for film and TV and let me assure you, they are far more anal about having cleared samples in songs. As far as I can see, most artists will have to do that, too. These are the rules set by YouTube surrounding the use of Content ID: I need help collecting my royalties. My name is Ronald. I asked Audiam, Tunecore and CDBaby, and they all have the same restrictions. Audiam, Tunecore and CDBaby can NOT be used by most artists for monetizing UGC on YouTube — no matter how often Ari repeats this nonsense.

Maybe this is for another piece, but what is your opinion on giant, un-matched or non-distributed royalty accounts that agencies like SoundExchange and the PROs sit on, waiting months, quarters or more before they are distributed?

Why should Pandora bear that burden? Paul, those clips are indeed totally royalty-free — just like all the other samples I mention in my posts. So yes, you can certainly monetize them without any problems.

But like I said: You have to do it yourself on YouTube, using ContentID directly. Audiam, CD Baby and Tunecore will not help you. Your only option would be to violate their rules, and that would bite your ass sooner rather than later.

YouTube is a dispute-magnet, and you want to be in the strongest possible position at all times legally. They have absolutely no way to detect this. And it would mean not a single song created over the last 20 years can be monetized…. Sound Exchange seems like needless bureaucracy. SoundExchange collects royalties for the sound recording. Existing PROs collect royalties for the composition. Two different sets of royalties.

Different laws and different computations.

Making Money with Royalties - The Daily Reckoning

SX represents artists and labels. PROs represent publishers and songwriters. Clearly there will be a songwriter split. What about publishing, and other payments? How to then manage and divide any income the resulting song generates? Thank you for any clarification. Unless things have changed in the last 5 years a simple DBA is sufficient. So, sound recordings made in the US by US labels are not eligible to receive royalties for radio play in Canada. Are you sure about SongTrust?

We do not provide any services related to direct payment of mechanicals from a third-party to our clients. My husband was killed in -his stage name was Sherrick and his birth name was F. He had a self-titled album in on Warner bros.

He wrote some of the songs including JUST CALL. I have been unable to locate where is royalties are going, if any, for me and our children. I wrote countless letters to Warner Bros to no avail. Do I still qualify for some type of Royalty.

I think I need to contact Socan but they will ask me which show and I worry about getting pushed out again.. I own the publishing for all of the songs on the album and they will appear on tv. With these three registrations — will I have covered all of my bases? I also plan to use bandcamp to sell the album. Please help — everytime I think I know what I need to know there seems to be more to know!

I recently recorded for a very popular metal band, that is on a major label. Mark or other hired recording musicians and vocalists: Digital Manager With Music Experience Director, Digital Marketing Digital Sales Manager — North America and Latin America Digital Marketing Director Senior Copyright Manager Creative Project Manager.

Should Desiigner Be Sued for Ripping Off Future? How To Get All of the Royalties You Never Knew Existed Ari Herstand. How To Get Music In Spotify Playlists Ari Herstand. What Does An Artist Manager Do And How To Get One Ari Herstand. Pandora Kills Artist Insights While Paying Out Less Money Ari Herstand.

Data February 15, from common keyboards. And not to be confused either with the act of sampling a bit of music to be used within a new piece of music and for wich you need to clear the sample first Reply. Anonymous February 15, …sorry about the italics fuckup… Reply. Most artists can not use Tunecore, Audiam and CD Baby to monetize UGC on YouTube.

Paul Resnikoff February 15, The GB clip comes in around the 1 minute mark. No Name July 19, You are completely mis-interpreting what they are telling you. JTV Digital February 15, These are the rules set by YouTube surrounding the use of Content ID: Jones March 17, I need help collecting my royalties.

Bateman Geiger April 24, same here: Anonymous February 15, JTV Digital: Paul Resnikoff February 15, Ari, exhaustive review. JTVDigital February 15, They have absolutely no way to detect this. And it would mean not a single song created over the last 20 years can be monetized… Reply. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? Anonymous February 15, Also, Paul — just to be clear: Bull February 15, I think this whole matter can be safely ignored, because: Anonymous February 15, Sound Exchange seems like needless bureaucracy.

Ari Herstand February 16, SoundExchange collects royalties for the sound recording. Meaning you may lose all your money. Anonymous February 16, P. Sasha February 16, Thank you for this very helpful summary article. Clearly much research and effort went into it. Deborah H February 20, Excellent article! Unless things have changed in the last 5 years a simple DBA is sufficient Reply.

13 Different Ways To Make Money From Your Songs | TuneCore

Lynne Conner-Smith April 26, My husband was killed in -his stage name was Sherrick and his birth name was F. Can you offer some direction? So much to learn. Thank you for all of your articles I am getting quite the education! NeedDirection December 1, how do i start receiving royalties that I have not received for the past 8 years.. Mark January 10, I recently recorded for a very popular metal band, that is on a major label.

Lavonne April 1, Mark or other hired recording musicians and vocalists: Mack N February 20, SESAC actually stands for Society of Europian Stage Authors and Composers. Subscribe to Our Daily Newsletter. Digital Music News is the leading authority for music industry professionals worldwide. We are based in Santa Monica, CA. More about us here. Archives Archives Select Month June May April March February January December November October September August July June May April March February January December November October September August July June May April March February January December November October September August July June May April March February January December November October September August July June May April March February January December November October September August July June May April March February January December November October September August July June May April March January August Advertise Contact Privacy Policy About Us.