Notes · Platform royalties
Amazon Music Royalties
A Amazon Music play can earn recording and songwriting royalties. Notes delivers the recording and registers the composition side. Flat subscription. No royalty cut.
Amazon Music is Amazon's multi-tier streaming service, reaching Prime members, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers, and Alexa-enabled smart devices in homes around the world. It supports HD and Ultra HD audio.
Best for Notes. Musicians who release to Amazon Music and still need the publishing and neighboring-rights sides registered, not only the recording delivery.
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How Notes collects this
Notes ships your sound recordings to Amazon Music as part of every release, with credits and ISRCs included. Your songwriter credits are registered with PROs and The MLC so the publishing side of every play is paid as well. Recording royalties from Amazon Music, plus the performance and mechanical royalties behind every play, are reconciled in one place, with no percentage taken. Notes does not take a percentage of royalties.
The two pools
Where this sits on the royalty ring
- Distribution
- Broadcast
- Publishing
- Performance
Each arc is a /learn royalty type. The ring is the same chart as the glossary hub.
By platform type
Which royalties a play can earn
| Platform type | Recording | Mechanical | Performance | Neighboring | Sync |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive streaming (Spotify, Apple Music) | ● | ● | ● | — | — |
| Non-interactive radio (Pandora, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio) | ● | — | ● | ● | — |
| Download / DJ stores (Bandcamp, Beatport) | ● | ● | — | — | — |
| Short-form & social (TikTok, Meta, Snap) | ● | ● | ● | — | ● |
| Fitness, sync & background (Peloton) | ● | — | ● | — | ● |
| Karaoke & sing-along (Singa, WeSing) | — | ● | ● | — | ● |
Interactive streaming (Spotify, Apple Music) pays recording, mechanical, and performance royalties, not neighboring rights, which come from non-interactive radio via SoundExchange. Karaoke also generates a print (lyric) royalty not shown above. ROXi-style on-demand music-video and karaoke TV is audiovisual, so it leans on sync and master-use licensing rather than the statutory mechanical.
Questions
FAQ
- What are Amazon Music royalties?
- Amazon Music is Amazon's multi-tier streaming service, reaching Prime members, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers, and Alexa-enabled smart devices in homes around the world. It supports HD and Ultra HD audio.
- What does an Amazon Music stream pay?
- A play earns on both the recording and composition sides. Amazon Music runs multiple tiers (Prime, Music Unlimited, and ad-supported), and each pays a different per-stream rate, so your earnings depend on which tier the listener is on.
- Why do Amazon Music tiers matter for my royalties?
- Because Prime, Unlimited, and ad-supported each pay a different rate, earnings that span tiers are easy to under-collect. Notes reconciles payouts across every Amazon Music tier so the rate differences don't end up as missing money.
- Does being on Amazon Music collect my publishing royalties too?
- No. Delivery handles the recording side. The composition's mechanical and performance royalties are collected separately through The MLC and the PROs, and only if your songs are registered. Notes registers both sides so the publishing half is collected too.
- Does Notes take a percentage of my Amazon Music royalties?
- No. Notes is a simple $5/month subscription with no percentages and no hidden fees. The royalties from both the recording and publishing sides are paid to you in full.
Built on the record
Sources
Notes is an independent music distribution and publishing administration service. Named platforms and collection societies are independent organizations. This page is not affiliated with, authorized by, or sponsored by them. Amazon, Amazon Music, and all related marks are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Notes is not affiliated with, authorized by, or sponsored by Amazon.