Understanding Royalty Types

Performance royalties are generated every time your music is performed or broadcast publicly — whether on radio, TV, streaming platforms, in restaurants, shops, or live venues. These are collected by Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI, PRS for Music, and SOCAN on behalf of songwriters and publishers.

Mechanical royalties are owed when your music is reproduced — physically (CDs, vinyl) or digitally (downloads, on-demand streams). In the US, these are administered by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). In the UK and Europe, MCPS and equivalent societies handle collection. Many mechanical royalties go unclaimed due to incorrect metadata or missing ISRC codes.

Neighbouring rights (also called related rights) are separate from songwriter royalties — they are paid to recording artists and record labels when a sound recording is broadcast or publicly performed. These rights are collected by organisations like PPL (UK), SoundExchange (US), SENA (Netherlands), and GVL (Germany). Many artists are unaware they are owed these royalties.

Synchronization royalties are earned when your music is licensed to accompany visual media — films, TV shows, advertisements, video games, or YouTube videos. Sync deals are negotiated directly between rights holders and licensees, but residual royalties from broadcast of that content are still collected by PROs. FutureArc helps ensure your sync-generated performance royalties are properly registered.

Digital royalties encompass a broad range of payments generated from online use of music. These include streaming royalties, download royalties, and digital performance royalties. The complexity of digital licensing means royalties are often split across multiple societies and platforms, leading to significant unclaimed amounts. FutureArc tracks and consolidates these across 60+ societies worldwide.

Black box royalties refer to money collected by rights societies that cannot be matched to the correct rights holder — often due to missing or incorrect metadata, unregistered works, or administrative errors. Globally, hundreds of millions of dollars sit in these 'black boxes' every year. FutureArc's core mission is to identify, claim, and distribute these royalties to the artists and publishers who earned them.