How To Collect Music Royalties

By Ismael Obas

Throughout the modern pop and rock era, the world of music publishing has undergone numerous changes (from the 1950s to the present). The most significant change has most likely been the gradual shift toward putting power (and most of the money) in the hands of songwriters rather than publishing companies, which used to wield the most power and control.
Back in the 1950s, rock and R&B artists would sell their entire copyrights to their labels for around $250 per song. For this sum of money, they would assign not only their publishing share but also their entire writer's share! One of the major companies I worked for owned the classic hit songs of a big-name '50s star and would lawfully keep 100 percent of the royalties, without having to pay any royalties to the hit writer.
In the 1960s, at the very least, songwriters kept their songwriter's share, splitting royalties equally with the publisher. Because the mechanical royalty rate (for records sold) was only two cents per unit sold, calculating the earnings was simple: one penny for the songwriter and one penny for the publisher.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ismael Obas
• Release date: Sep 13, 2021

Book preview

HOW TO COLLECT MUSIC ROYALTIES

By

Ismael Elite Obas

Contents

INTRODUCTION

AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC PUBLISHING

CHAPTER 1

How Do Royalties Work?

What Exactly are Royalties?

The Six Different Types Of Royalties

CHAPTER 2

Who Gets Paid When Royalty Is Dealt?

How Do Royalties Work?

CHAPTER 3

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Did you know that when your music is played on the radio, sold on CD, performed live, and streamed online, you can earn royalties (MONEY)? Most producers and artists are unaware of royalty collections, and as a result, they are missing out on additional income. Royalties are earned in addition to your usual up-front fees for selling beats, percentages of album sales, YouTube advertising-income, or whatever social media platform you're currently using to monetize your music. However, to collect royalties, you must first understand how they work. 

Music royalties are notoriously complicated: if you were expecting a simple a song got this many plays on Spotify, so the artist gets this much money scenario, you're in for a rude awakening. There are numerous players, some with partial ownership of copyrights and others who are simply middlemen collecting royalties and taking a cut. Consider this: if you are a singer/songwriter with music on Spotify, Spotify will pay out several types of royalties for each play, and there will most likely be a record label, publisher, distributor, and a collective management organization between you and Spotify. To make matters even more complicated, there are multiple layers of deals and calculations between all

Reviews for How To Collect Music Royalties

[ChillinWit Ishy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

wow alot of things i didnt know about royalties i mean i now starting off and none of my friends told me about anything he is talking about thanks for the information well needed