Question 1

What are music royalties?

Accepted Answer

Music royalties are payments made to creators when their music is performed, streamed, sold, or licensed. The main categories are performance royalties (for the public performance of a composition), mechanical royalties (for the reproduction of a composition), neighboring rights or sound recording performance royalties (for the public performance of a sound recording), sync royalties (for use of music in film, TV, and ads), and print royalties (for sheet music). Royalties are collected by performing rights organizations, mechanical rights administrators, and digital service providers, then paid to rightsholders.

Question 2

Who collects music royalties?

Accepted Answer

Different organizations collect different types of music royalties. In the United States, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR collect performance royalties for songwriters. The MLC and HFA administer mechanical royalties. SoundExchange collects digital sound-recording (neighboring-rights) royalties. Around the world, equivalent collection societies include PRS for Music (UK), SOCAN (Canada), GEMA (Germany), SACEM (France), JASRAC (Japan), KOMCA (Korea), APRA AMCOS (Australia/NZ), ECAD (Brazil), SAMRO (South Africa), and many others. Notes registers compositions with all of these on a creator's behalf and reconciles payments from every source.

Question 3

What is music publishing administration?

Accepted Answer

Music publishing administration is a service that registers compositions with performing rights organizations (PROs), mechanical rights organizations (MROs), and collection management organizations (CMOs) worldwide, collects the royalties those societies pay, and forwards them to the songwriter — typically in exchange for a small commission. Unlike a traditional publishing deal, publishing administration does not acquire any ownership of the composition. Notes provides publishing administration as part of its music royalties platform.

Question 4

What is the difference between a music distributor and a publisher?

Accepted Answer

A music distributor delivers sound recordings (the master) to digital service providers like Spotify and Apple Music and collects recording royalties on behalf of the artist or label. A publisher (or publishing administrator) registers the underlying composition (the song itself) with performing rights organizations and collection societies and collects performance and mechanical royalties for the songwriter. Most artists need both. Notes combines distribution, publishing administration, and royalty collection in a single platform.

Question 5

How many platforms does Notes distribute music to?

Accepted Answer

Notes distributes music to 50+ platforms worldwide, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, SoundCloud, Audiomack, iHeartRadio, Napster, Anghami, Boomplay, JioSaavn, NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, KKBOX, AWA, Joox, Kuaishou, FLO, LiveOne, TikTok, Meta Library, Snap, Canva, Bandcamp, Beatport, Juno Download, Mixcloud, Peloton, Pretzel Rocks, Soundtrack Your Brand, Shazam, ACRCloud, Audible Magic, Gracenote, YouTube Content ID, Taobao, SoundExchange, and The MLC — covering streaming, short-form video, downloads, DJ stores, fitness and sync, content identification, e-commerce, and direct US royalty collection.

Question 6

How do musicians get paid for streaming and other music uses?

Accepted Answer

Musicians get paid through several parallel royalty streams. For each stream of a song, the recording artist or label is paid recording royalties through the distributor; the songwriter is paid mechanical royalties (in the US via The MLC) and performance royalties (via a PRO like ASCAP or BMI); and for non-interactive digital uses, master rights holders are paid neighboring-rights royalties via SoundExchange. Notes consolidates all of these payouts in one account and does not take a percentage of musicians' royalties.

Question 7

Why is over $1 billion in music royalties unclaimed each year?

Accepted Answer

Music royalties are unclaimed because the data behind a song — its writers, publishers, and recording rights holders — is fragmented across 50+ platforms and dozens of global collection societies. When a song is missing an ISWC, ISRC, or IPI registration with the correct society, the royalty has no recipient and is held as unmatched or "black box" income. Notes reviews catalogs across every platform, fills in missing registrations, and matches royalties to the correct musician, recovering money that would otherwise sit unclaimed.

Question 8

Does Notes take a percentage of music royalties?

Accepted Answer

No. Notes does not take a percentage of musicians' royalties, ever. Notes charges a flat monthly subscription ($5/month for the Musician plan; a free tier is available; managers and companies start at $100/month). Royalties go directly to the musician's Notes Financial Account, where balances earn 1% rewards.

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