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 of choices, but we recommend looking into the less obvious options. Smaller distributors see companies tagged on this slide) 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 PRM / DMO / 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 earn from royalties. Songtrust is a reputed royalty collection service here and, for UK songwriters, PRS are the CMO of choice.