Understanding Music Royalties

Every time your music is streamed, played on the radio, performed live, or used in a film or advert, someone owes you money. But the music royalty system is notoriously complex, and many emerging artists leave money on the table simply because they do not understand how it works. There are two main types of rights in a song: the master recording (the actual sound recording) and the composition (the underlying melody, lyrics, and structure). Each generates its own set of royalties.

Master royalties flow to whoever owns the recording — traditionally the record label, but if you release independently (which Noise always encourages), you keep these. When someone streams your song on Spotify or Apple Music, the platform pays your distributor, who passes the master royalties to you after taking a small percentage. This is the income most independent artists are familiar with.

Composition royalties are split into two categories: mechanical royalties (generated when your song is reproduced, including streams) and performance royalties (generated when your song is played publicly, including radio, live venues, and TV). In the UK, PRS for Music collects performance royalties and MCPS collects mechanical royalties. You need to register with PRS and correctly register every song you release to ensure you collect what you are owed.