Public performance royalties are payments made by radio stations, hotels, restaurants, night clubs, etc. to the composition copyright holder(s) for each public performance of the copyrighted work. In the U.S., public performance royalties are typically paid to performing rights organizations (e.g., ASCAP, BMI) who then distribute the royalties to the copyright holder(s).
Mechanical royalties are royalties deriving from per-unit payments made by recording companies or digital download providers to the composition copyright holder(s) for every purchase of a sound recording that reproduces the copyrighted composition.
Non-interactive digital performance royalties are payments made by non-interactive music services (i.e. those that mimic the experience of a radio broadcast) of a statutorily-set amount (on either a per-play or annual basis—depending on the type of service) to
SoundExchange for the benefit of the sound recording copyright holder and the performing artists for the right to perform the copyrighted
sound recording via non-interactive, digital means.
The royalties owed to the creator(s) of a musical composition which are paid in return for the right to reproduce, distribute, or perform the copyrighted work.
A musical composition is one of the two copyrightable parts of a recorded song. It consists of the song's music, including any accompanying words, (i.e. the portion of a song that is capable of being fully expressed as sheet music) and is separate from any particular recording of the song or its performance by any particular artist.
A sound recording is one of the two copyrightable portions of a recorded song. It results from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds in a tangible (at least momentarily permanent) medium.
The portion of royalties owed to the owner of a sound recording. The owner may the performing artist, the producer, or another party (such as a record label) who contractually acquired the ownership of the copyrighted work (e.g., through a recording agreement), owns it by virtue of an employer-employee relationship with the creator(s) of the work, or specially commissioned the work.
The portion of royalties owed to the performers of a sound recording in return for the right to perform the copyrighted work via non-interactive, digital services (e.g., Pandora, Spotify).
The portion of royalties owed to the music publisher which are paid in return for the right to reproduce, distribute, or perform a copyrighted musical composition, arising from a contractual obligation (i.e. a publishing agreement) or employer-employee relationship with the creator of composition (i.e. the songwriter(s)).
