Music increasingly gets made by teams.

A single recording might involve:

  • Main artist
  • Featured artist
  • Producer
  • Vocalist
  • Record label
  • Manager
  • Investor

When the track starts earning money, somebody then needs to work out who receives what.

Royalty-splitting tools can automate that process.

Agree the percentages before release

Technology solves payment.

It doesn’t solve negotiation.

Before releasing a collaboration, agree:

  • Who owns the master
  • Whether the producer owns master points
  • Whether featured artists receive recording royalties
  • Songwriter percentages
  • Whether anyone received a buyout instead
  • What expenses are recoupable

Write it down.

Master revenue and publishing are different

This is important.

A 20% share of recording revenue does not necessarily mean somebody owns 20% of the composition.

There are normally two separate sets of rights:

The master recording.

The underlying song.

A producer could have 5% of the master and 20% of the songwriting.

Or neither.

It depends on the agreement.

How automated royalty splitting works

The distributor receives recording revenue.

Instead of sending everything to one account owner, the platform automatically allocates agreed percentages.

RouteNote’s Revenue Sharing tool allows revenue to be shared between multiple RouteNote accounts.

For RouteNote Free releases, the split is applied after RouteNote’s 15% distribution share. Premium releases can distribute the full eligible recording revenue according to the selected percentages.

Example

Suppose two artists own a recording equally.

Under RouteNote Free:

RouteNote’s distribution share is 15%.

The remaining 85% is divided between the two participants.

Each receives 42.5%.

Under Premium, the full recording revenue can be divided according to the chosen split.

Why automate it?

Imagine manually paying five collaborators every month.

You need to:

  • Download statements
  • Calculate percentages
  • Track currencies
  • Make transfers
  • Record payments
  • Answer questions

Automated splits remove much of that administration.

They also give collaborators greater transparency.

Don’t forget songwriting

Revenue sharing between distributor accounts normally deals with recording revenue.

Songwriting royalties may still require:

  • PRO registration
  • Publishing administration
  • Mechanical collection
  • Accurate songwriter metadata

Don’t assume one royalty split collects every type of income.

Keep an agreement anyway

Even if your distributor automatically pays everyone, keep a written contract.

Specify:

  • Percentages
  • Rights
  • Territory
  • Term
  • Recoupment
  • Accounting
  • Approval rights where relevant

The distributor processes the percentages.

Your agreement explains why those percentages exist.