Answers/Problems & answers/Royalties

Does DistroKid Collect All of Your Music Royalties?

Does DistroKid register my song with the MLC automatically?

Not on the standard plan. DistroKid distribution covers the sound recording side only. DistroKid Publishing is a separate paid add-on that does collect global digital mechanicals, and DistroKid describes that income as different from your usual streaming royalties, which DistroKid already collects for all members.

If I use DistroKid, do I still need a PRO?

Yes. ASCAP or BMI collects performance royalties on the composition, which is a completely different pot from the sound recording royalties DistroKid pays you. No distributor replaces a performing rights organization. DistroKid itself says that if you are PRO-affiliated it collects both publisher and songwriter shares through DistroKid Publishing, and if you are not affiliated it collects the publisher share only.

Does DistroKid collect SoundExchange royalties?

No. SoundExchange collects the digital performance royalty on the sound recording from non-interactive services like Pandora radio and SiriusXM, and it pays the featured artist directly. Registration with SoundExchange is free and DistroKid does not do it for you.

I already released songs without registering. Is that money gone?

Not necessarily. Register now and file claims on your existing catalog — The MLC has a claiming process for historical unmatched royalties. It is more work than registering upfront and there are limits, but it is worth doing before you release anything else.

Do I need all four if I only have one song out?

Yes, and it is far easier with one song than with thirty. The MLC and SoundExchange are free, BMI is free for songwriters, and you set the accounts up once. Doing it now means every future release is already covered.

Is DistroKid taking a cut of my royalties?

DistroKid states that artists keep 100% of earnings on all plans, and charges an annual subscription instead — $24.99, $44.99 or $89.99 per year as of August 2026. Individual add-ons have their own pricing, and DistroKid Publishing takes a commission that DistroKid does not publish on its help page.

does distrokid pay youtube royalties

DistroKid delivers your recording to YouTube Music and pays the recording-side royalty from it. YouTube Content ID, which claims your audio when other people use it in their videos, is a separate paid DistroKid add-on. Neither covers the songwriter and publisher performance royalties that ASCAP or BMI collect from YouTube.

Which is better for collecting everything, DistroKid or TuneCore or CD Baby?

None of the three collects all four pots through basic distribution. DistroKid is $24.99/yr, TuneCore Rising Artist is $24.99/yr, and CD Baby is $9.99 per single one-time with a permanent revenue share. All three are recording-side distributors, and all three leave ASCAP or BMI, The MLC and SoundExchange to you unless you buy their publishing add-on.

What is the difference between DistroKid and DistroKid Publishing?

DistroKid distribution puts your recording on Spotify, Apple Music and other stores and pays the master royalty. DistroKid Publishing is a separate paid product that collects composition income — global digital mechanicals, US offline mechanicals, global digital public performance, US offline public performance, worldwide sync and settlement payments.

Full explanation: Does DistroKid Collect All of Your Music Royalties?

Where Does the Money From One Stream Actually Go?

Why are there four collectors instead of one?

Because US copyright treats a sound recording and a composition as two different works, and treats public performance and reproduction as two different rights. Each combination ended up with its own collecting body — distributors, ASCAP and BMI, The MLC, and SoundExchange — for historical reasons. It is not designed to be simple, and nobody is incentivised to simplify it for you.

Does this apply outside the United States?

The four-pot structure described here is the US system. Other countries have their own collecting societies — PRS and MCPS in the UK, SOCAN in Canada, GEMA in Germany — and The MLC specifically only covers US mechanical usage. Register for the US properly first, since that is where most streaming revenue for most independent artists comes from.

If I wrote and recorded everything myself, do I still get all four?

Yes, and that is the best case — you own both the sound recording and the composition, so all four pots pay you. That also means all four go unclaimed if you skip registration with ASCAP or BMI, The MLC and SoundExchange.

How long until the money actually shows up?

It varies by collector. The MLC pays monthly, roughly 75 days after the usage month ends. Distributors like DistroKid and TuneCore run on their own schedules, and ASCAP and BMI distribute quarterly with a lag measured in months. Nothing in this system is fast.

Does Spotify pay mechanical royalties directly to me?

No. Spotify pays the sound recording royalty to your distributor and pays US mechanicals into the blanket licence administered by The MLC under Section 115. The MLC then pays whoever has registered the composition. If nobody registered the work, that money goes to the unmatched pool rather than to you.

what happens to my royalties if i never register anywhere

The sound recording royalty still reaches you through your distributor, because you gave the distributor the file and your bank details. The performance, mechanical and SoundExchange money is generated but has no identified claimant, and it is distributed or held under each organization's own rules rather than saved for you.

Does Pandora count as a stream for all four pots?

Pandora's non-interactive radio service pays SoundExchange on the recording side and ASCAP or BMI on the composition side. It does not generate a mechanical royalty the way an on-demand Spotify or Apple Music stream does, because nothing is being reproduced on demand. Pandora's on-demand tier behaves like other interactive services.

Is a YouTube view the same as a Spotify stream for royalties?

No. A YouTube monetised view pays the recording side through your distributor or through Content ID, and pays the composition side through ASCAP or BMI as a public performance. The mechanical treatment differs from an on-demand audio stream, and views that carry no ad revenue can pay effectively nothing regardless of pot.

Do I get paid four times for the same stream?

You get paid from four different rights on the same use, which is not the same as being paid four times for one thing. Each pot is a different licence: the distributor pays for the recording, The MLC for the reproduction of the composition, ASCAP or BMI for the public performance of the composition, and SoundExchange for the digital performance of the recording on non-interactive radio.

Full explanation: Where Does the Money From One Stream Actually Go?

Is Registering With the MLC Worth It for a Small Artist?

How much does it cost to register with the MLC?

Nothing. Registration with The MLC is free for self-administered writers and publishers. There is no subscription, no annual fee, and no percentage taken from what The MLC collects on your behalf.

What are the MLC payout minimums?

For US-based members, $5 by ACH direct deposit, $100 by physical check, and $250 by wire transfer. Choose ACH — the threshold is twenty times lower than a check, which matters enormously when you are starting out.

Can I register if I live outside the United States?

Yes. Non-US members can register with The MLC, though The MLC only covers US mechanical usage. Non-US payout minimums are higher — $100 for a local bank transfer or physical check, and $250 by wire.

Does my distributor already do this?

Only if you specifically bought a publishing administration add-on such as DistroKid Publishing or CD Baby's mechanicals product. Standard distribution from DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby does not include MLC registration, and most artists on a basic plan are not registered.

How long until I see money?

The MLC distributes monthly, about 75 days after the end of the usage month. Royalties earned in January land around mid-April. If you get no notification some months, you were most likely under the payout minimum for your chosen payment method.

Do I need to join a PRO before I register with the MLC?

You do not need to, but it is easier in that order. ASCAP or BMI will give you a member number and, if you set one up, a publisher entity name, and having both to hand makes the MLC registration form go faster and reduces the chance of a mismatch later.

Is the MLC the same thing as Songtrust or the Harry Fox Agency?

No. The MLC is the designated collective that administers the Section 115 blanket licence for US on-demand streaming, and it is free. Songtrust is a paid publishing administrator that registers you with collection societies worldwide and takes a commission. The Harry Fox Agency handled mechanicals for decades but sits largely outside the streaming path for self-administered writers now.

do i need the mlc if i only have a few hundred streams

Yes, because the cost of joining The MLC is zero and the ACH payout minimum is $5, not $100. Registering at three songs takes about twenty minutes; registering at forty songs after several years of unmatched usage is a much bigger job with a claiming process attached.

What happens to MLC royalties if I never register my songs?

They go into the unmatched pool rather than to you. The MLC holds unmatched royalties while it tries to identify the owners, and after a statutory holding period undistributed money is allocated to publishers by market share, which means it goes to people who are not you.

Does the MLC collect my performance royalties too?

No. The MLC collects mechanical royalties on the composition only. Performance royalties are collected by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, and the digital performance royalty on your sound recording is collected by SoundExchange. Registering with The MLC connects exactly one of your four royalty pots.

Full explanation: Is Registering With the MLC Worth It for a Small Artist?

ASCAP or BMI — Which PRO Should a Beginner Join?

Can I join both ASCAP and BMI?

Not as a writer for the same works. You affiliate with one performing rights organization for your songwriter registrations. You can switch later, but ASCAP and BMI both have affiliation terms and resignation windows, so treat it as a decision with some stickiness.

Is BMI really free?

Yes, for the songwriter and composer account. BMI states that although some performing rights organizations collect annual dues, BMI does not. The fee appears only on the publisher side — $175 for an individual publisher, $250 for a corporation or LLC, $500 for a partnership — and BMI says a new songwriter will not need to set up a publishing company.

How much does ASCAP cost to join?

ASCAP charges a $50 one-time processing fee for a writer membership and a separate $50 one-time processing fee for a publisher membership, as of August 2026. There are no annual dues. A self-releasing artist who wants both halves registered at ASCAP pays $100 in total, once.

Do I need a publishing company to join a PRO?

No. BMI's own FAQ says that a new songwriter will not need to set up a publishing company, and that creating a publishing company will not mean that you receive more royalties. Join as a writer first. Set up a publisher entity later, if and when you have an actual reason — administering other writers, a co-publishing deal, or a label.

What happens if I never join a PRO at all?

Your performance royalties go uncollected entirely. DistroKid and TuneCore do not collect them and The MLC does not collect them. Of the four US royalty pots, performance is the one with no fallback whatsoever — there is no organization that will hold it for you until you turn up.

Do I need a PRO if I only release on Spotify and Apple Music?

Yes. Streaming generates a performance royalty on the composition alongside the sound recording royalty your distributor pays. Different right, different pot, different collector. ASCAP and BMI both collect from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Pandora and SiriusXM.

Should I register the songs before or after I release them?

Before. Performance royalties accrue from the moment a song is publicly performed, and claiming backwards through ASCAP or BMI is slower and more limited than being registered on day one.

which pro pays more ascap or bmi

Nobody outside ASCAP and BMI can verify this, because both use survey-and-census methodologies and weighting formulas that are not fully public and that change. At beginner volume the difference between them is far smaller than the difference between registering both halves and registering only one. Choose on cost and switch later if you have a reason.

What is the difference between joining a PRO and registering my songs?

Joining ASCAP or BMI creates your account. Registering a work tells them that a specific song exists, who wrote it, and what the splits are. An active affiliation with no registered works collects nothing, and this is the step beginners skip most often.

Do I need SESAC or GMR?

You cannot apply to either. SESAC and Global Music Rights are both invitation-only, so for a beginner the real choice is ASCAP or BMI. Do not let comparison articles that include all four make the decision look bigger than it is.

Full explanation: ASCAP or BMI — Which PRO Should a Beginner Join?

Why Am I Only Getting Half My Performance Royalties?

Do I need an actual company to be a publisher?

No. A publisher account at ASCAP or BMI is an affiliation, not a business incorporation, and you do not need an LLC to hold one. BMI goes further and states that a new songwriter will not need to set up a publishing company, and that creating a publishing company will not mean that you receive more royalties.

What happens to the publisher share if nobody claims it?

It does not sit waiting for you indefinitely. Unclaimed shares are handled under each organization's own distribution rules, and practically speaking that money is gone rather than banked in your name. This is why the timing matters more than the paperwork.

Can I fix this for songs I already released?

Partially. Register the publisher entity now and update your existing work registrations at ASCAP or BMI to list it. Retroactive claiming is limited and varies by organization, so expect to recover some but not all of what has already accrued.

How much does it cost to register a publisher account?

ASCAP charges a $50 one-time processing fee for a publisher membership, the same as its writer membership. BMI charges $175 for an individual publisher, $250 for a corporation or LLC, and $500 for a partnership, all one-time and non-refundable. Neither charges annual dues.

Does this affect mechanical royalties too?

Yes. The writer and publisher division exists on the composition side generally, so it appears at The MLC as well as at ASCAP and BMI. Register as both writer and publisher at The MLC too — it is free there.

If I have a co-writer, how do the halves work?

The songwriter share splits between the writers by your agreed percentages, and the publisher share splits between each writer's publisher along the same lines. This is exactly why a signed split sheet at the time of writing matters so much — mismatched registrations freeze payment on the disputed share.

Does SoundExchange split royalties into writer and publisher shares?

No. SoundExchange is on the sound recording side, not the composition side, so it has a different division entirely — between the featured artist and the owner of the sound recording. The writer and publisher split does not exist there.

why is my ascap payment so low

The two usual causes are that only the songwriter half of each work is claimed, which halves everything by default, and that works were registered after release so early performances were never matched. Check whether a publisher entity is listed on each work, and check that every released song has a work registration at all.

Do I lose the publisher share if I use DistroKid Publishing or Songtrust?

No — that is what those services claim on your behalf, in exchange for a commission. DistroKid states that if you are PRO-affiliated it collects both the publisher and songwriter shares, and if you are not affiliated it collects the publisher share only. Do not also register your own publisher entity on the same works, because overlapping claims create conflicts.

Is the publisher share actually 50 percent?

Roughly, and the convention is close enough to plan around. ASCAP and BMI both divide performance royalties on a composition into a writer share and a publisher share of approximately equal size, and pay them as two separate claims. The exact treatment of edge cases differs, but no beginner is losing money to that difference — they are losing it to an unregistered half.

Full explanation: Why Am I Only Getting Half My Performance Royalties?

What Is SoundExchange and Do Independent Artists Need It?

Does Spotify or Apple Music pay through SoundExchange?

No. Spotify and Apple Music are interactive, on-demand services, and your distributor collects the recording royalty from them. SoundExchange covers non-interactive services like Pandora radio stations, SiriusXM and internet radio.

Is SoundExchange the same as a PRO?

No, and the distinction trips people constantly. ASCAP, BMI and SESAC collect performance royalties on the composition. SoundExchange collects the digital performance royalty on the sound recording. Different copyright, different pot, different registration.

How much does it cost to register with SoundExchange?

Nothing. SoundExchange's own registration page says "Registering is free, simple, and fast." There is no fee to register as a featured artist or as a sound recording owner, and no annual dues.

What is the SoundExchange payout threshold?

SoundExchange does not publish a payout threshold on its registration pages, so I am not going to state one. Compare that to The MLC, which does publish minimums — $5 by ACH, $100 by check and $250 by wire for US members.

Does DistroKid or TuneCore register me with SoundExchange?

No. DistroKid and TuneCore distribute your recordings to stores and collect on-demand streaming income. Neither registers you with SoundExchange as part of standard distribution, so the registration is yours to do.

Can I register as both the featured artist and the rights owner?

Yes, and if you self-release you should. SoundExchange pays a 45% featured artist share and a 50% sound recording owner share separately, and a self-releasing artist is entitled to both.

Does US terrestrial AM/FM radio pay SoundExchange?

No. The United States has no general public performance right in sound recordings for over-the-air AM/FM broadcast, so terrestrial radio pays songwriters through ASCAP or BMI and pays performers nothing. SoundExchange covers digital transmissions only.

What if my music has never been played on internet radio?

Register anyway. It is free and takes about ten minutes, and the point is to be registered before a placement happens rather than discovering the gap months afterwards, when the plays have already been logged against an unregistered recording.

Do I need an ISRC to register a recording with SoundExchange?

Have your ISRCs ready. SoundExchange matches usage reports to recordings by identifiers, and your distributor — DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby — issues the ISRC and lists it in your release details.

Does SoundExchange collect my royalties from other countries?

Not automatically. SoundExchange offers an international royalties service that collects neighbouring rights income from foreign collection societies on behalf of members who opt in. Domestic registration alone does not cover foreign performance income.

Full explanation: What Is SoundExchange and Do Independent Artists Need It?

Should You Register a Song Before or After You Release It?

How far before release should I register a song?

Give yourself about two weeks. BMI and ASCAP publisher name approvals get rejected for conflicts with existing companies, work registrations are not instant, and you want the paperwork settled before the release date rather than racing it.

What if I already released songs without registering them?

Register now and work backwards through your catalogue. The MLC has a process for claiming historical unmatched royalties and ASCAP and BMI have their own retroactive windows. You will likely recover some of it, not all of it.

Does registering before release affect my release date?

No. Registration and distribution are separate systems. A work can be registered with BMI and The MLC weeks before DistroKid or TuneCore delivers the audio to Spotify and Apple Music.

Do I need an ISRC before I can register a song?

Not to register the composition with ASCAP, BMI or The MLC. In practice your distributor issues the ISRC when you upload the release, which is before the public release date, so you can add it to the registration and improve matching.

do i have to register a song before i put it on spotify

You are not required to. Spotify will distribute an unregistered song happily. But the mechanical royalty on those streams goes to The MLC with no matched claimant, so registering first is how you actually get paid for the early plays.

Should I register the copyright with the US Copyright Office before release too?

Ideally within three months of first publication. Under 17 U.S.C. 412, statutory damages and attorney's fees are only available if registration happened before the infringement began or within three months of first publication, and that window is the whole reason to hurry.

Is there any advantage to waiting until a song does well?

None that I have found. The song that takes off is the one where the unregistered window costs the most, and you do not get to know in advance which song that is. The forms are identical whenever you fill them in.

Does DistroKid register my songs for me?

DistroKid's base distribution collects sound recording royalties only. Registering the composition with ASCAP or BMI and with The MLC is separate, and DistroKid Publishing is a paid add-on rather than part of standard distribution.

Can I register a song that is finished but not released yet?

Yes. ASCAP, BMI and The MLC register the musical work, which exists as soon as it is written, and the US Copyright Office registers unpublished works as well as published ones.

What happens to royalties on a song nobody has registered?

They are collected anyway and held as unmatched. The MLC holds unmatched mechanical royalties pending a claim, and a PRO cannot attribute a performance to a work it has no registration for, so the money accrues without a payee attached.

Full explanation: Should You Register a Song Before or After You Release It?

What Is a Mechanical Royalty, and Who Pays It?

What is a mechanical royalty in simple terms?

A mechanical royalty is what somebody owes you for making a copy of your song. It is attached to the composition — the melody and lyrics — and it is triggered by reproduction, whether that copy is a stream cached on a phone, a paid download, a vinyl pressing or a CD. It has nothing to do with who recorded the song.

Who pays mechanical royalties on Spotify streams?

Spotify does, directly into the Section 115 blanket licence. Spotify reports its US usage and pays the mechanical money to The MLC, and The MLC matches that usage to registered compositions and pays the writers and publishers. Your distributor never touches this money, because your distributor is paid on the sound recording side.

Is a mechanical royalty the same as a performance royalty?

No, although both are royalties on the composition. The mechanical royalty is paid for reproducing the song and is collected in the United States by The MLC. The performance royalty is paid for publicly performing the song and is collected by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR. A single Spotify stream generates both, and two different organisations collect them.

Does DistroKid collect my mechanical royalties?

Not through standard distribution. DistroKid Musician at $24.99/yr, TuneCore Rising Artist at $24.99/yr and CD Baby at $9.99 per single are sound recording products. DistroKid Publishing is a separate paid add-on that does collect global digital mechanicals, and DistroKid's own help documentation says that income is different from the usual streaming royalties it already collects for everyone.

Do I owe myself a mechanical royalty if I wrote and recorded my own song?

You do not pay yourself anything, but the royalty still exists and still has to be claimed. Spotify owes a mechanical on your composition regardless of the fact that you also own the recording, and it pays that money to The MLC. If your work is not registered with The MLC, the mechanical goes unmatched even though you are sitting on both sides of the song.

What is the Harry Fox Agency and is it still relevant?

The Harry Fox Agency has issued mechanical licences for reproductions of compositions since 1927 and ran the US mechanical system for decades, including the licensing of cover songs on physical releases and downloads through its Songfile service. For US on-demand streaming, the Music Modernization Act moved that function to The MLC, so a self-administered writer's streaming mechanicals now flow through The MLC rather than HFA.

Do I need a mechanical licence to release a cover song?

Yes, and it is a mechanical licence you are buying. Section 115 makes the licence compulsory, so the original songwriter cannot refuse you, but you still have to pay. For a digital release, distributors sell this as an add-on — DistroKid charges $12 a year per cover song — and for physical copies you can license directly or through the Harry Fox Agency's Songfile service.

How is the streaming mechanical rate calculated?

Not as a fixed price per copy. The Copyright Royalty Board sets the streaming mechanical pool as a formula based on the service's revenue, measured against what the service pays record labels, with a floor tied to subscriber counts. The result is a pool of money divided among rights holders by usage, which is why no fixed per-stream mechanical rate exists in the United States.

does the mlc pay me for youtube

For the composition side of eligible US usage, yes. YouTube Music and YouTube's audio streaming operate as a digital music provider under the blanket licence, so the mechanical on your composition flows through The MLC. The advertising money on your own uploaded video is a separate recording-side payment that reaches you through YouTube and your distributor or Content ID.

What happens to mechanical royalties I never claim?

They sit in The MLC's unmatched pool. The MLC holds royalties it cannot match to a registered work while it tries to identify the owner, and the statute requires that unclaimed accrued royalties eventually be distributed to copyright owners on a market-share basis. Nobody sends you a letter first — matching depends on a work registration existing.

Full explanation: What Is a Mechanical Royalty, and Who Pays It?

What Is a Performance Royalty, and Who Collects It?

What is a performance royalty?

A performance royalty is what a business owes for publicly performing a musical composition. Streaming services, radio and television stations, bars, restaurants, gyms, retail chains and concert venues all buy blanket licences from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR, and those organisations distribute the money to the songwriters and publishers of the songs performed.

Who collects performance royalties in the United States?

Four performing rights organisations: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR. ASCAP and BMI are open to any songwriter who applies. SESAC and GMR are invitation-only and you cannot join by filling in a form. A song's performance royalties are collected by whichever of the four its writers are affiliated with.

What is the difference between the writer share and the publisher share?

Every performance royalty on a composition is split into two halves that are claimed by two different accounts. ASCAP or BMI pays the writer share to the registered songwriter and the publisher share to the registered publisher. If no publisher is registered on the work, the publisher half is not automatically paid to the writer — it sits unclaimed.

Is SoundExchange a PRO?

No, and this is the most common error in the whole topic. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR collect the performance royalty on the composition. SoundExchange collects the digital performance royalty on the sound recording from non-interactive services under 17 U.S.C. 114. Different copyright, different statute, different services, separate registration.

Do Spotify streams generate performance royalties?

Yes. A Spotify stream publicly performs the composition, and Spotify pays a performance royalty to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR on top of the mechanical it pays to The MLC and the recording royalty it pays to your distributor. The performance royalty from streaming is real but small per stream, and it arrives quarterly rather than monthly.

How much does it cost to join ASCAP or BMI?

As of August 2026, ASCAP charges a $50 one-time processing fee for a writer account and another $50 for a publisher account. BMI charges songwriters and composers nothing, and charges $175 to affiliate an individual publisher, $250 for a corporation or LLC and $500 for a partnership. Those publisher fees are one-time and non-refundable.

Can two performing rights organisations collect performance royalties on the same song?

Yes, but not for the same writer. You affiliate as a songwriter with one performing rights organisation at a time and your works are registered there, so only ASCAP or only BMI collects your writer share of a given performance. Co-writers can be affiliated with different organisations on the same song — one writer at ASCAP and another at BMI is normal, and each organisation pays its own writer.

Do I need a publishing company to collect the publisher share?

You need a registered publisher entity at your PRO, which is not the same as forming a company. BMI states plainly that a new songwriter will not need to set up a publishing company and that creating one will not mean you receive more royalties. What it does is give the publisher half of your work somewhere to be paid.

does my distributor collect performance royalties

Not through standard distribution. DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby collect the sound recording royalty from streaming services. DistroKid Publishing is a separate paid add-on that collects public performance income on the publishing side, and CD Baby and Songtrust sell comparable products, but a basic distribution plan collects no performance royalties at all.

Does terrestrial AM/FM radio pay performance royalties?

It pays the songwriter and pays the performer nothing. US law grants no general public performance right in sound recordings for over-the-air broadcast, so an FM station's blanket licence money goes to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR for the composition, and neither the featured artist nor the owner of the master is paid for that spin.

Full explanation: What Is a Performance Royalty, and Who Collects It?

How Streaming Royalties Are Actually Calculated (There Is No Per-Stream Rate)

Why can nobody quote a fixed Spotify per-stream rate?

Because the calculation does not contain one. Spotify pays a share of a revenue pool based on your share of total streams, so the figure falls out differently every month, every country and every catalog. Any per-stream number you see is a realised average worked out after the fact — across 186,519 of my own Spotify streams from 2019 to 2026 that average was $0.0033 per play, and in the United States specifically $0.0039.

What is pro-rata streaming royalty allocation?

Pro-rata means the service adds up all subscription and advertising revenue for a market and month, allocates a contracted percentage of it to rights holders, and then divides that pool by share of total streams. If your recordings were 0.001% of all streams that month, you receive 0.001% of the pool. Nothing in that calculation is a price.

What is user-centric or fan-powered royalty allocation?

User-centric allocation divides each listener's own subscription fee among the artists that listener actually played, instead of pooling everyone's money together. SoundCloud launched a fan-powered version of this in 2021 and Deezer has pushed variants of it, but Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music all still use pro-rata.

Why did my per-stream rate go down when my streams went up?

Because the denominator moved. Under pro-rata your payout depends on your share of total streams on the service, so if the whole platform's stream volume grows faster than its revenue, the average value of every stream falls even though you did nothing differently. Market mix matters too — a surge from a low-revenue country dilutes your average.

Why is a stream from the US worth more than a stream from India?

Because the revenue pool is built per market from local subscription prices and local advertising rates. A Spotify subscription in the United States costs several times what one costs in India or Indonesia, so the pool that US streams divide is far larger. In my own data US Spotify streams paid $0.0039 while Indian streams paid $0.00008.

Is a free-tier stream worth less than a subscriber stream?

Substantially less, and for a structural reason. The ad-supported pool is built from advertising revenue, which per listening hour is far smaller than what a subscriber pays each month. The two pools are calculated separately, so an ad-supported play and a premium play are two different economics that get averaged together in any single per-stream figure.

Are Spotify's published payout figures what artists receive?

No. Spotify publishes what it pays out to rights holders in total, which is gross money entering the system at the top. It is measured before your distributor's cut, before any label share, before co-writer and producer splits, and it includes publishing money that goes to The MLC and to ASCAP or BMI rather than to the recording artist.

Does a track need a minimum number of streams to earn on Spotify?

Yes. Under Spotify's royalty policy a track must reach 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months before it generates recorded royalties. Streams below that threshold still count in your listener numbers and still contribute to the total stream denominator, but they do not produce a recording payment for that track.

why do two songs with the same streams pay different amounts

Because the mix underneath the total is different. Country distribution, subscriber versus ad-supported tier, which service the plays came from, and whether the plays fell in a high-revenue or low-revenue month all change the value of an identical stream count. Two tracks at 10,000 streams can differ by several times over.

Where can I see real per-stream numbers instead of estimates?

I published my own seven-year royalty dataset — 45,894 royalty lines and 41.98 million plays across every platform that has ever paid me — at /what-streaming-platforms-actually-pay-per-play/. It shows realised rates by platform, by country and by year, which is the empirical companion to the mechanism described on this page.

Full explanation: How Streaming Royalties Are Actually Calculated (There Is No Per-Stream Rate)

ISRC vs ISWC: The Two Codes Your Song Needs

What is the difference between an ISRC and an ISWC?

An ISRC identifies a recording and an ISWC identifies a composition. If you record the same song three times — a studio take, an acoustic version and a live version — you have three ISRCs and one ISWC. The ISRC follows the master through distribution and SoundExchange; the ISWC follows the song through ASCAP, BMI and The MLC.

Do I need to buy an ISRC?

Not if you are distributing through DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby, because all three assign an ISRC to every track automatically at no extra charge. You can instead register with the RIAA as your own ISRC manager in the United States, which gives you a registrant code and lets you issue your own codes for full control over your catalogue.

How do I find my ISRC?

Your distributor lists it in the release details for each track. In DistroKid it appears on the song's page in your dashboard; TuneCore and CD Baby show it in the release information. It is also embedded in the delivered audio metadata and visible in Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists on a per-track basis.

Does my song get a new ISRC when I change distributors?

Only if you let the new distributor mint one, which is usually a mistake. If you are re-delivering the same master, carry the original ISRC across manually. A new ISRC on the same recording splits your streaming history, your playlist placements and your royalty reporting into two records that never recombine.

When do I need a new ISRC?

Any time the recording itself is new or materially different. A remix, an acoustic version, a live take, an instrumental, a radio edit, a sped-up or slowed version and a remaster all need their own ISRC. Re-uploading the identical master to a different store does not.

How do I get an ISWC?

You do not apply for one directly. Register the composition with ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, and the organisation assigns an ISWC as part of the work registration once the writers and shares are settled. It appears in your works catalogue at the PRO and can then be entered into your MLC work registration.

what happens if my isrc is wrong on the mlc

The usage a streaming service reports never links to your work registration, so the mechanical royalty falls into the unmatched pool while your streams keep climbing. This is one of the most common causes of unclaimed MLC money, and it is silent — nothing in your account tells you a match failed.

Can two songs have the same ISRC?

They should never, and if they do it is a data error that has to be fixed. A duplicated ISRC means two different recordings are reported as one, so streams and royalties for both are merged into a single record and paid against whichever registration the code resolves to. Contact your distributor to correct it rather than issuing a workaround.

Is a UPC the same as an ISRC?

No. A UPC identifies the release as a product — the single, EP or album — while an ISRC identifies each individual track inside it. A three-track EP has one UPC and three ISRCs. Distributors assign both automatically, and stores use the UPC to group tracks into a release page.

Do I need an ISWC to get paid?

You can be paid without one, because The MLC and your PRO can match on title, writer, IPI number and ISRC. But an ISWC is what reliably ties the same composition together across societies and territories, and works with a clean ISWC match far more consistently than works identified only by title, which is the single most collision-prone field in the whole system.

Full explanation: ISRC vs ISWC: The Two Codes Your Song Needs

← All problems and answers