Know what
your music
is doing.
Reporting, splits and clearer visibility into the money around your records.
Royalties are not one bucket.
One song. Two different rights.
The recording is the master: the recorded performance you hear. The composition is the underlying song: its music and lyrics. The recording owner and the songwriters may be different people, with different agreements and royalty accounts.
Where the money travels
Recording income: a distributor reports revenue from the services it delivers to, subject to the distribution agreement. Delivery does not automatically register or collect every publishing royalty.
Composition income: performance and mechanical royalties follow separate paths. PROs and other collecting societies handle relevant performance royalties. In the United States, The MLC administers eligible digital audio mechanical royalties. A publisher, administrator or CMO may already handle registration and collection on your behalf; check before duplicating registrations.
Digital performance of recordings: SoundExchange collects for qualifying noninteractive digital services in the U.S., such as internet and satellite radio. This is not the same payment stream as on-demand distributor revenue.
What a split actually divides
A master-revenue split is not a songwriting split. Agree which right, which revenue and which deductions an agreement covers. A percentage of gross receipts can produce a different result from the same percentage after agreed fees or recoupment.
Keep contributor names, ownership shares, recording identifiers and registrations consistent. A delivery confirmation, a reported earning and a payable balance are different things; statements and agreements explain the timing and deductions.
Before you ask “where are my royalties?”
- Identify the recording and the song, and who owns each.
- Check which distributor, publisher, administrator or society is responsible for that income.
- Compare the reporting period, territory and revenue type—not just a stream count.
- Check the agreed splits, fees, thresholds and any recoupment.
CSMG only handles the services it is explicitly engaged to provide. This guide is educational, not a statement of your contract or a guarantee of earnings.
Learn directly from The MLC and SoundExchange.
Try a royalty split.
Use one agreed distributable amount and one set of shares. The example starts at 1,000 split 50% / 30% / 20%; it does not predict streaming income.
Run master and composition examples separately. Enter the amount after any deductions that your agreement requires. Shares must total 100%. Amounts are rounded to two decimal places; leftover cents go to the largest fractional remainders, with ties resolved in row order.
This calculator does not set or save your actual royalty splits. Nothing entered here is sent to CSMG.