Notes · Platform royalties
Apple Music Royalties
A Apple Music play can earn recording and songwriting royalties. Notes delivers the recording and registers the composition side. Flat subscription. No royalty cut.
Apple Music is Apple's subscription streaming service: curated editorial, spatial audio, lossless playback, and tight integration across iOS, macOS, and watchOS. Its per-stream rates are among the highest in the industry.
Best for Notes. Musicians who release to Apple Music and still need the publishing and neighboring-rights sides registered, not only the recording delivery.
Start for FreeNotes
How Notes collects this
Notes ships your sound recordings to Apple 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 Apple 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 Apple Music royalties?
- Apple Music is Apple's subscription streaming service: curated editorial, spatial audio, lossless playback, and tight integration across iOS, macOS, and watchOS. Its per-stream rates are among the highest in the industry.
- What does an Apple Music stream pay?
- A play earns on both sides at once: streaming royalties for the recording, plus mechanical and performance royalties for the composition, collected separately through The MLC and the PROs. Apple Music pays per stream; the exact value depends on its subscription revenue, the listener's market, and the period's total streams.
- Does Apple Music pay download royalties too?
- Yes. Alongside streaming, the Apple download store pays recording revenue on each purchase, each with a composition royalty alongside it. Notes delivers to both and reconciles your streaming and download earnings together.
- Does being on Apple Music collect my publishing royalties too?
- No. Delivering to Apple Music handles the recording (master) side. The publishing side, the mechanical and performance royalties the composition earns, is collected separately through The MLC and the performing-rights organizations, 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 Apple 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. Apple and Apple Music are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Notes is not affiliated with, authorized by, or sponsored by Apple.