How to Read a Royalty Statement, Line by Line
Updated 6 min read
A royalty statement is a list of every place your music was played or sold in a period, with what each play earned and your share of it. Read it one line at a time: the period, the store, the country, the track, how many plays, and the amount after fees.
What a royalty statement is
Every time a listener plays your song on a streaming service, that service records the play. At the end of each month it reports the plays to your distributor and pays for them. Your distributor collects these reports from every store, takes its fee, and sends you one combined statement.
So one statement holds many sources at once. A single song can appear on hundreds of lines: one line for each store, in each country, in each month. That is why the file looks long. Once you know the columns, it reads like a clear map of where your music travels.
The columns, one by one
Different distributors name their columns slightly differently, but almost every statement carries the same information.
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Reporting period | The month the store reported, which is often a few months after the plays |
| Sales period | The month the plays actually happened |
| Store | Where the plays came from, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or Amazon Music |
| Country | Where the listeners were |
| Release and track title | Which song earned the line |
| Track code | The code that identifies each recording, so every store counts the same song as one |
| Quantity | How many plays or downloads the line covers |
| Gross amount | What the store paid for those plays |
| Your share | What reaches you after the distributor's fee |
| Currency | The currency of the amounts, which can vary between stores |
The sales period tells you when your music was heard. The reporting period tells you when the money was counted.
Why the money arrives a few months after the streams
Stores pay distributors after each month closes, and distributors then process every report before they pay artists. A wait of about two to three months between a play and its payment is common.
This is good to know in the first weeks after a release. The streams you see today in your streaming dashboard will show up on a statement a few months from now. Comparing the two works best when you line up the sales period with the month of the streams.
Why one play can earn a different amount than another
There is no single price for a stream. The amount per play changes with:
- The store, since each service has its own way of sharing its income with music owners
- The listener's country, since subscription prices differ around the world
- The listener's plan, since paid subscriptions usually earn more per play than free listening with ads
- The month, since each store's total income and total plays change over time
So two songs with the same number of plays can earn different amounts. A song popular in a country with higher subscription prices, or with listeners on paid plans, earns more per play.
What this statement covers, and what comes from other places
A distributor's statement covers the recording itself, often called the master. If you also wrote the song, there is a second stream of income for the songwriting.
Songwriting royalties are collected by other organizations. Performance royalties come through a performing rights organization, such as ASCAP and BMI in the US, PRS for Music in the UK, GEMA in Germany and SACEM in France, SACM in Mexico and UBC in Brazil, or JASRAC in Japan and KOMCA in South Korea. Songs also earn a royalty each time they are copied or streamed, and a publisher or a collection service collects it for the writers. Registering your songs with them means you receive both sides of what your music earns.
How to read your statement in five steps
- Filter by sales period, so you see one month of plays at a time.
- Group the lines by track, and see which songs carry the month.
- Group by store, and see where your listeners prefer to hear you.
- Group by country, and see which markets are growing.
- Compare the quantity with the plays in your streaming dashboard for the same month.
These five views turn a long file into a short story: which songs, where, and on which services your music grows.
One clear view of what your music earns
SoundEX.ai brings your music, your fans and what your music earns into one clear view, a Free professional tool built around your career. Your releases, your listeners on every service, and your earnings sit side by side, so you read the story without building the spreadsheet.
Questions and answers
How often do royalty statements arrive?
Most distributors send statements monthly or quarterly. Each statement covers the plays that stores reported in that period.
Why does my statement show fewer plays than my streaming dashboard?
The two usually cover different months. Statements follow the plays by a few months, so match the sales period on the statement to the same month in your dashboard.
What is the track code on my statement?
It is the code that identifies each recording. Every store uses it, so all plays of the same song are counted together wherever they happen.
Does my distributor's statement include songwriting royalties?
No. It covers the recording. Songwriting royalties come through a performing rights organization and a publisher or collection service.