Not everyone understands what goes into the royalty portion of music business and sales. While many of our website visitors are veterans in the music business, some of you are new to the scene. Today we break it down in “layman’s terms”.
Music Royalties 101
Persons who produce lyrics or musical arrangements sometimes must count on music royalties to earn a living. An artist can receive one or several of the many types of royalties that exist. Industry specific royalty requirements must be met, which means that artists are entitled to payment each time that another person accesses their works for any reason. Record labels must pay royalties to the artist once they earn back their expenses that they put forth to promote the record. The labels will have to pay royalties to the songwriter or the song performer. In some cases, the songwriter is the same person who performs the song.
A writer may earn royalties from a special organization such as ASCAP if someone uses his or her song in a television or radio advertisement. Synchronization royalties are a type of royalties that a songwriter or performer obtains when his or her material appears in a television show, or on a commercial, or in a movie. Additionally, websites that stream an artist’s works must pay that person a royalty each time a visitor streams a song and listens to it.
A person can determine the exact amount of royalties that he or she will receive by using royalty software. Music royalty software can help a person to distribute the music through various entities and keep track of the earning that he or she accumulates each month. The music industry is a place where persons such as music publishers, creators and artists can flourish if they connect with the right people and tools.
