Every music creator who wants to make money from his or hers music must understand the fundamentals of music publishing. Why? Publishing is the process in which any artist will make any money.

Nonetheless, I’m writing this in hopes of giving you value and that you take it. Here are the three types of royalties that you will earn as a creator:

  1. Synchronization: How this works is somebody will pay you money and in exchange you give them a license to use your music in audiovisuals. So this includes movies, TV Ads, etc.
  2. Mechanical royalties: This type of royalty is made when a music is sold. Nowadays, it is almost exclusively digital and physical CD sales of music. However, it also includes, folio sheets, piano books etc.
  3. Performance: This is the type of royalty you get whenever your music is played in public. This includes concerts, TV, radio air play, etc. Due to the ambiguity of this type of royalty (imagine if you had a worldwide hit and it played in thousands of clubs in one night, it would be impossible for you to collect all that money by yourself) organizations called performance rights organizations/societies or PRO/PRS, collect money for songwriters and publishers.

I’ve given you the basics for you to start. There’s much more information out there and it is your duty to find it out. Don’t be lazy, make sure you go out there and research it. Educate yourself.

Please watch this video. It’s a bit long -6 mins- but enlighten yourself. 🙂

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