Here's the thing almost nobody tells you when you upload your first song: a single Spotify stream can pay you in three different ways — and the distributor you used to get the track up there only collects one of them.
The other two are sitting somewhere, waiting for you to register for them. Multiply that across every stream, every play on internet radio, every use in a video, and the gap between "money you earned" and "money you collected" gets wide fast.
This is the whole map. Save it, because the point isn't to memorize it — it's to notice which boxes you haven't ticked yet.
First: every royalty attaches to one of two copyrights
You can't understand royalties until you separate the two things that live inside every recorded song.
- The composition — the song itself: melody, lyrics, chord structure. Owned by the songwriter(s) and their publisher.
- The sound recording (the "master") — the specific recorded performance you actually hear. Owned by whoever paid to make it, usually the artist or label.
If you wrote and recorded your own song, you own both. But they generate separate royalties, collected by different organizations, and if you only think of yourself as "the artist," you'll quietly ignore an entire half of your income — the songwriter half.
Every royalty type below is really just a different use of one of those two copyrights.
The main types of music royalties
1. Recording royalties — streams & downloads (master)
This is the one you already know. When someone streams or downloads your track, the platform pays out for the use of the sound recording. That money flows to whoever owns the master — through your distributor.
Comes from: the sound recording. Who pays you: your distributor (they collect from Spotify, Apple Music, etc. and pass your share along). This is the money most artists think of as "my streaming royalties" — and it's genuinely only one slice.
2. Mechanical royalties (composition)
Every time your song is reproduced — streamed, downloaded, or pressed to a physical copy — it also generates a mechanical royalty on the composition. Yes: the same stream that paid your master (type 1) also owes a mechanical on the song.
In the United States, the mechanicals from digital streaming and downloads are administered through The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) under a blanket license. Physical and some other mechanicals are handled through other routes. The catch: The MLC pays the songwriter/publisher, and it can only pay you if your works are registered and matched. A self-releasing songwriter who never registered with a publishing administrator or directly with The MLC is very often leaving these unclaimed.
Comes from: the composition. Who pays you: The MLC (US digital), or your publishing administrator.
3. Public performance royalties (composition)
When your song is performed publicly — on the radio, in a bar or gym, on TV, at a live show, or via the performance component of a stream — the composition earns a public performance royalty.
These are collected by Performing Rights Organizations (PROs): in the US that's ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR. You affiliate with one PRO as a writer, register your songs, and they pay the songwriter and publisher shares. No affiliation, no collection — the venue paid its license fee, but nothing routes to you.
Comes from: the composition. Who pays you: your PRO.
4. Digital performance royalties (sound recording)
Here's a type almost no new artist registers for. When your recording plays on non-interactive digital radio — think Pandora's radio mode, SiriusXM, and many internet radio stations — it earns a performance royalty on the sound recording itself.
In the US, that's collected by SoundExchange, which pays out under a set statutory split between the featured artist and the master owner (with a portion for non-featured performers via separate funds). You have to register with SoundExchange as both a rights owner and a featured artist to get it — your distributor does not do this for you.
One wrinkle worth knowing: traditional US terrestrial AM/FM radio pays the songwriter (through the PRO, type 3) but does not pay the sound-recording side. So the same radio spin pays your composition and not your master. Most of the world handles this differently — which leads straight to the next type.
Comes from: the sound recording. Who pays you: SoundExchange (US).
5. Neighboring rights (sound recording, mostly international)
Outside the US, when your recording is played in public or broadcast, it usually earns a neighboring-rights royalty for the performers and the master owner — the sound-recording equivalent of a public performance royalty. Many countries collect this; the US mostly doesn't recognize the general version, which historically complicated payments for American artists abroad.
These are collected by neighboring-rights societies and administrators around the world, and they frequently go unclaimed by independents who don't know to register. (If you want the deeper version of why this matters and how it's expanding, we covered Japan's brand-new public-play right.)
Comes from: the sound recording. Who pays you: neighboring-rights societies / an admin, by territory.
6. Sync fees (both copyrights)
When your music is placed in visual media — film, TV, an ad, a game, a YouTube video — that's a synchronization use, and it touches both copyrights. Using the master and the composition each needs permission, so a sync typically involves two negotiations (or one, if you control both sides).
Sync isn't collected by a central society the way the others are; it's negotiated, usually through music supervisors, publishers, sync agents or licensing libraries. The upside is that a single good placement can pay more than years of streaming.
Comes from: both. Who pays you: the licensee, via negotiation.
(There's also print/sheet-music income on the composition, which matters mostly for widely covered or educational repertoire — worth knowing exists, rarely a priority for a new release.)
The insight that reframes everything: one stream, three royalties
Walk one interactive stream through the map:
- It pays a recording royalty on your master → via your distributor. (type 1)
- It owes a mechanical on your composition → via The MLC or your publisher. (type 2)
- It owes a public performance royalty on your composition → via your PRO. (type 3)
If you only ever set up distribution, you collected one of the three. The mechanical and the performance money on the songwriter side don't disappear — they just don't reach an unregistered writer.
Say you're an independent artist who wrote and recorded your own single, put it out through a distributor, and did nothing else. You're collecting your master streaming money and genuinely believe you're "getting your royalties." Meanwhile your MLC mechanicals and your PRO performance royalties on the exact same streams are accruing to a writer the system can't find — you — and your SoundExchange digital-performance money on internet radio is doing the same thing. None of that is exotic. It's just three registrations you never made.
Who collects what — the reference
| Royalty | Copyright | Who collects / pays you (US) |
|---|---|---|
| Streams & downloads | Recording | Your distributor |
| Mechanical | Composition | The MLC / publishing admin |
| Public performance | Composition | Your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR) |
| Digital performance | Recording | SoundExchange |
| Neighboring rights | Recording | Societies / admin, by country |
| Sync | Both | Negotiated with the licensee |
Every row is a different door. Distribution opens exactly one of them.
What your distributor does — and doesn't — collect
A distributor's core job is type 1: deliver your recording to platforms and pay you the master-side streaming and download money. That's real and important, and it's what services like the big self-serve distributors are built around.
What a distributor typically does not do automatically:
- collect your songwriter mechanicals (that's publishing — a separate registration or a publishing-admin add-on);
- collect your public performance royalties (that's your PRO);
- register you with SoundExchange for digital performance;
- chase your neighboring rights abroad;
- pitch or clear sync.
Some distributors sell publishing-administration add-ons that cover parts of this, and those can be worth it — but only if you know what they're actually collecting on your behalf, and what's still on you. The dangerous version is assuming "I have a distributor, so all my royalties are handled." They're not. One door is open; the rest need you.
Where CREWPORT fits
CREWPORT distributes your recording and pays out the master-side streaming and download royalties — type 1. The publishing side (mechanical and performance), SoundExchange, neighboring rights and sync each run through their own systems, exactly as above.
What makes the difference across all of them is boring and decisive: clean, consistent data. Every one of these collectors matches money to you using your identifiers — your ISRC on the recording side, your writer/work registrations on the composition side, consistent artist and songwriter names throughout. CREWPORT validates your metadata before delivery and keeps your ISRCs and artist-profile IDs attached to every release, so the recording is identifiable when any of these systems comes looking. Get the identifiers right once, and every royalty type has a better chance of finding you.
FAQ
What are the main types of music royalties?
Recording royalties (streams/downloads of the master), mechanical royalties (reproduction of the composition), public performance royalties (public performance of the composition), digital performance royalties (the recording on non-interactive digital radio), neighboring rights (the recording performed publicly, mostly internationally), and sync fees (music in visual media). Sync touches both copyrights; the rest split between the composition and the sound recording.
Does my distributor collect all my royalties?
No. A distributor generally collects your master-side streaming and download royalties. Songwriter mechanicals, public performance, SoundExchange digital performance, neighboring rights and sync are separate — you register for them yourself or use a publishing administrator.
What's the difference between mechanical and performance royalties?
Both come from the composition. A mechanical royalty is owed when the song is reproduced (streamed, downloaded, pressed). A public performance royalty is owed when the song is performed publicly (radio, venues, TV, the performance component of a stream). Different uses, different collectors — The MLC/publisher for mechanicals, your PRO for performance.
How do I collect songwriter royalties?
Affiliate with a PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR in the US) and register your songs for performance royalties, and register your works with The MLC or a publishing administrator for mechanicals. If you don't, the money accrues without reaching you.
What is SoundExchange and do I need it?
SoundExchange collects US digital performance royalties for the sound recording when your track plays on non-interactive digital radio (Pandora radio, SiriusXM, internet radio). Register as a rights owner and featured artist — your distributor doesn't do this for you.
Why doesn't US radio pay me for my recording?
Traditional US terrestrial AM/FM radio pays the songwriter side (through the PRO) but not the sound-recording side — the US doesn't recognize a general public-performance right for sound recordings on terrestrial radio. Many other countries do, which is what neighboring rights are about.
Make sure every royalty can find you
You can't collect what the system can't match to you. The foundation under all six royalty types is the same: correct identifiers and consistent names, attached to every release.
CREWPORT validates your metadata before delivery and keeps your ISRCs and artist-profile IDs with every release — so your recording is identifiable no matter which royalty comes looking. It handles the master side; the publishing, SoundExchange and neighboring-rights registrations are yours to make — now you know which ones.
This is general education, not legal or financial advice. Collection bodies, splits and rules vary by country and change over time — confirm the current details with the relevant organizations before making decisions.
Where to register / learn more
- The MLC — mechanical royalties for US digital streaming and downloads
- SoundExchange — US digital performance royalties for sound recordings
- ASCAP · BMI · SESAC · GMR — US performing rights organizations (public performance of compositions)
- U.S. Copyright Office — how the underlying copyrights work