4 Types of Songwriter Royalties Explained

I'd like to explain 4 different types of music royalties. As a producer or songwriter, I hope this helps you understand royalties better without the complex terms or language that's sometimes used around these things.

When you're producing electronic music, you are typically considered the songwriter. Here are 4 types of music royalties you can expect from your music:

1) Streaming Royalties

This is a fancy way of saying royalties from music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, XBox, YouTube, and so on.

2) Digital Download Mechanical Royalties

Well that's a mouthful of a term, isn't it? It means when your song is purchased on itunes, amazon, beatport, or any other digital store.

3) Physical Mechanical Royalties

This is a music industry jargon which means someone buys your Single, EP, or Albumin the physical form. In a music store, a vending machine for music, at walmart, and so on.

4) Analog Performance Royalties

You know when you hear music at bars, the gym, restaurants, coffee shops, on the radio, etc? Well, there are royalties due for that as well for songwriters.

I hope this has given you a better understanding of 4 music industry royalties for songwriters.

Denis Hiller, Label Manager, NoFace Records. Send your unsigned electronic music to [email protected]