Notes · Platform royalties
YouTube Music Royalties
A YouTube Music play can earn recording and songwriting royalties. Notes delivers the recording and registers the composition side. Flat subscription. No royalty cut.
YouTube Music is Google's dedicated music streaming app, billed separately from the main YouTube platform but sharing the same content library and ad infrastructure.
Best for Notes. Musicians who release to YouTube 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 YouTube 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 YouTube 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 YouTube Music royalties?
- YouTube Music is Google's dedicated music streaming app, billed separately from the main YouTube platform but sharing the same content library and ad infrastructure.
- How does my music earn on YouTube Music?
- Two ways: subscription streams and ad-supported plays, each paying recording royalties plus a mechanical and performance royalty on the composition. Separately, YouTube Content ID earns ad revenue when your recording is used in other people's videos.
- What is YouTube Content ID and how do I get paid from it?
- Content ID matches your recording across user-uploaded YouTube videos and collects the ad revenue those uses generate, but only for recordings registered with it. Notes registers your ISRCs with Content ID where eligible so that revenue is matched to you instead of going uncollected.
- Does being on YouTube 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 through YouTube's licensing deals with collection societies, and only if your songs are registered. Notes registers both sides.
- Does Notes take a percentage of my YouTube 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. YouTube and YouTube Music are trademarks of Google LLC. Notes is not affiliated with, authorized by, or sponsored by Google or YouTube.