#151 - 5 Steps to Get Royalties From Your Music
Accept that you’ll need to outsource: It may sound counterintuitive to an independent musician on a tight budget, but it’s essential to use distributors, publishers, as well as PRO, DRM and CMO services (even though they can come at a small cost). Individually collecting royalties from each platform that plays/uses your music would be an impossible feat.
There are three parts to a song: Composition, recording and performance - it’s important to know that these three components earn separate royalties when your track is played publicly or distributed. Let’s break this down…
Finding the right distributor for you: To digitally release your music across a variety of streaming sites, as well as direct download platforms, you’ll need a distributor. These days, there are a lot more choices and we recommend looking into the less obvious options. Smaller distributors (see tags) [Tag: Ditto, Horus Music, Stem, Routenote, Spinnuo and Amuse) may also be able to provide you with an account handler to help resolve any issues you encounter (where bigger distributors can be slower off the mark).
Choose your publisher: Although their role is less crucial than they once were, you may choose to work with a publisher to collect your composition royalties and take advantage of their network of songwriters, music supervisors and trusted catalogue. A good publisher will aim to promote and monetise your work, set up writing sessions, and explore sync opportunities.
Select a PRO/DRM/CMO: Performance Rights Organisations (who collect performance royalties) and Collective Management Organisations (who collect both performance and mechanical royalties) enable artists (copyright owners) and administrators (labels) to collect royalties. Songtrust is a reputed royalty collection service here and, for UK songwriters, PRS are the CMO of choice.
Takeaways: For independent musicians, royalties are key to earning an income from your music. By organising your own royalty collection via outsourcing, you’re still cutting out the middleman (the label), collecting a bigger cut from your hard-earned royalties as well as retaining full creative freedom. For a more detailed look at how you can earn royalties from your music don’t hesitate to drop us a DM or, alternatively, follow the link in our bio to check out our website.