Royalty Accounting

A company or individual with creative assets being used by a third party receives payment, known as a royalty. Music royalties originate from copyright or intellectual property, and the owner receives payment before stockholders, company executives, etc. Greenlight Financial can help artists calculate how much royalties are due to them. We can also help small record labels when calculating the royalties due to their songwriters.

Music Copyrights

Copyright laws protect music and consider it “a tangible medium of expression.” A song comprises two copyrights:
1) Composition, which is lyrics & melody;
2) the actual sound recording you hear.

Types of Music Royalties

Since there are different types of music royalties, it’s important to understand the differences. If you are in the music industry and need help with your royalties, Greenlight Financial can help with the calculation of:

• Mechanical Royalties Those who own the master recording generate Mechanical Royalties each time their song streams on a platform like Spotify.
• Performance Royalties Songwriters generate Performance Royalties when their songs stream on a service or when they perform in public, play on the radio, in restaurants, malls, etc. Performing Rights Organizations (PRO) like BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC collect performance royalties in two forms: songwriter royalties and publishing royalties.
• Synchronization (Sync) Royalties are generated each time a song is featured in visual media like TV shows, films, commercials, video games, etc.
• Print Music Royalties are due to classical or film composers when their composition is transcribed to sheet music. Print music publishers pay royalties for each copy of the composition.
• Producer Royalties are paid to some producers based on a percentage of the revenue earned by a song. These are referred to as producer points or producer royalties, where one point equals 1% of the song’s revenue earned by the label.

Greenlight and Royalty Accounting

Greenlight Financial has over 16 years of experience in royalty accounting with both individuals and record label companies. Contact us today to learn how we can help you.