Music publishing is divided into two royalty types: performance royalties and mechanical royalties.
You can find our guide explaining performance royalties here. This article provides an overview of mechanical royalties.
What are Mechanical Royalties?
Mechanical royalties are generated whenever a musical composition is reproduced.
This includes reproductions through:
- Physical formats such as vinyl, CD, and cassette
- Digital downloads
- Interactive streaming on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music
Whenever your music is copied and distributed in one of these formats, mechanical royalties are generated at the publishing level.
How do Mechanical Royalties work?
If a record label wants to release your music, they must obtain a mechanical licence to reproduce the composition. This licence triggers the payment of mechanical royalties.
Mechanical royalties therefore become an important income stream for writers and rightsholders, particularly where:
- Physical releases are sold
- Digital downloads occur
- High streaming volumes are achieved
Even if a release is limited (for example, a small vinyl pressing), mechanical royalties are still generated.
Who collects Mechanical Royalties?
Unlike performance royalties, which generate separate writer and publisher shares, mechanical royalties do not generate a directly payable writer share. Instead, they are collected by a publisher or publishing administrator and then accounted to writers and rightsholders according to the agreed splits.
Because mechanical royalties are generated across multiple territories, each with different collection societies and reporting timelines, many rightsholders choose to work with a publishing administrator.
Publishing administration helps ensure that:
- Works are registered correctly with the relevant mechanical collection societies
- Usage is tracked across territories
- Royalties are identified, collected, and paid to rightsholders
How can LW Publishing help?
LW Publishing provides publishing administration to ensure mechanical royalties are:
- Registered correctly
- Actively monitored
- Collected globally where applicable
This allows artists, writers, and labels to focus on releasing music while ensuring publishing income is not left unclaimed.
If you would like to learn more about LW Publishing, please contact us at publishing@labelworx.com