This is part 1 of a 2 part post about music royalties and how they work. In this post I’ll just define the different types of music royalties that exist. In the second part, I’ll breakdown percentages and how these royalties are distributed to artists.
Music royalties are basically monies earned from songs or music from a variety of different sources.
The different types of royalties are:
Artist Royalties: Are monies paid by the label/company that releases the song.
Mechanical Royalties: Are monies paid by the label/company to the writer of the song. The performer and writer are sometimes the same person.
Performance Royalties: Are monies paid to the songwriter of the song. These earnings are collected from public performances of the song and broadcasts such as radio and television play. Performance Rights Societies (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC), collect these fees and distribute the earnings to the writers.
Synchronization Royalties: Are monies paid to the songwriters and publishers of a song for use in movies, commercials or TV shows.
Keep you eye out for part 2 of this post.
