Music Royalty
Payments made to rights holders when music is used, including mechanical, performance, and sync royalties.
Definition
Music royalties are payments owed when copyrighted music is used. The main types are mechanical royalties (from reproduction/distribution), performance royalties (from public performance/broadcast), and sync royalties (from use in visual media).
Different royalties flow through different channels to different rights holders. Understanding which royalties exist, who earns them, and how they're collected is fundamental to the music business.
Why It Matters
Unclaimed royalties represent significant lost income for many artists and writers. Understanding royalty types and collection mechanisms ensures you're collecting everything you're owed.
Royalty knowledge also informs career decisions—writing songs earns different royalties than just performing, for example, which affects how you approach opportunities and partnerships.
Examples in Practice
A songwriter registers with their PRO and discovers years of unclaimed performance royalties from radio play they didn't know they were owed.
An artist realizes their label collects their mechanical royalties but they need to collect their performance royalties separately through their PRO.
A band's sync placement generates more immediate income than a year of streaming, demonstrating why sync licensing deserves attention in their strategy.