Jefferson Airplane collected their royalties and became Jefferson Heir-plane đź‘‘
In addition to the Master recording royalty, RouteNote Publishing is now able to collect the following Compositional royalties for music distributed with RouteNote or another distributor:
- Performance Royalties
- Mechanical Royalties
- YouTube Micro Synchronization Royalties
- Neighbouring Rights
Please note! Neighbouring Rights are not a type of Publishing Royalty, however, they do “neighbour” them. Despite this, they are a royalty that the RouteNote publishing team can collect for songwriters.
What are Performance Royalties?
Performance royalties do not only refer to earnings generated whenever a song is performed live at a concert.
Performance royalties also refer to some other things you may not have previously considered performances. These include:
- Radio broadcasts
- TV performances
- Public streams (like in a restaurant or waiting room)
It’s essential to get familiar with performing rights organisations (PROs). These organisations vary depending on where you live. In the UK, the designated PRO is PRS, and in the US you can use ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. They also handle TV and radio performances and things like songs being used in shops or public spaces.
In the case of RouteNote Publishing, RouteNote claims the Publisher’s share on behalf of writers, then hands it all over after taking a 15% cut. Writers can claim the other 50% themselves directly through their local PRO. So, you should sign up for yours in order to unlock your music’s full earning potential.
What are mechanical royalties?
Similarly to performance royalties, mechanical royalties are generated when your music is ‘reproduced’ in some form. This could be on-demand digital streaming, via platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, as well as physical sales like CD or vinyl. You may notice crossover between mechanical and performance royalties. When people listen to or buy your music, it will generate both these royalties. It’s not uncommon for this to occur simultaneously!
Mechanical royalties are also generated any time a musician recreates a recording of your composition. If an artist wants to record a cover of your song, they’ll need to pay a fee to obtain a mechanical license. Mechanical royalties are paid to a mechanical agency.
These agencies are similar to performance rights organisations, however, only publishers can affiliate with them. It’s very difficult for independent artists to be able to collect their mechanical royalties directly from a mechanical agency. Fortunately, RouteNote Publishing can do that for you!
What are YouTube Micro Synchronization royalties?
You may have heard of sync royalties before. This is a royalty generated when music is played alongside an image or moving image (video). For example, film soundtracks and ad music.
In North America, a type of royalty specific to YouTube is generated when a video on the platform that features your song is viewed by someone living there. For example, if you’re a Paris-based musician, and a monetised YouTuber in Korea uploads a video and uses your song in it, and that video is viewed by someone in North America, then YouTube Micro Sync royalties are generated.
To ensure that you receive all the Compositional royalties owed to you, RouteNote Publishing will collect YouTube Micro Sync royalties on your behalf.
What are Neighbouring Rights?
Neighbouring Rights are not a type of Publishing Royalty, however, they do “neighbour” them. They are public performance royalties owed to the sound recording copyright holder.  ‘Performance rights’ refer to the right to publicly broadcast the music composition associated with a track, and the ‘neighboring right’ is the payment due to the owner of the sound recording (usually the recording artist and/or the label) for the same public performance.
Even so, neighbouring rights are a royalty that the RouteNote publishing team can collect for songwriters!
How can I get started?
To get started, just send an email to publishing@routenote.com.
Also see our blog post on music publishing below!
If you have any further queries, feel free to get in touch with us!
See also:
What type of royalties do RouteNote collect?
What do I do if someone’s stolen my music?
What is a sync license?