How Does Songtrust Work?

It’s complicated.

Songtrust acts as a publishing administrator for our clients, registering songs and collecting royalties on their behalf without taking creative control or ownerships.

We help clients register songs with more than 60 collection societies and other pay sources worldwide. This lets us collect royalties generated from sales, streams, radio plays, live performances, television broadcasts, and more.

Your Songtrust agreement is administered on a song-by-song basis, so you can choose which songs you'd like us to manage on your behalf. We will register those songs with other societies we work with where you're earning worldwide. If a writer also has a publishing entity with their PRO, Songtrust can collect royalties on behalf of it as well.

Letters of direction and songs are reviewed by our team and sent out (if needed) within a few days. Societies process song registrations and pay royalties on varying timelines, so it typically takes 9-12 months before clients see their first royalty statement.

After that initial statement — as long as royalties are being generated — they'll be paid out by us the quarter after they are released. Songtrust takes a 15% commission on all royalties collected on your behalf.

Songtrust does not take exclusive sync rights, so clients are free to procure licensing opportunities as they see fit.

Songwriters can also use our YouTube tools to monetize official and user-generated video content that incorporates their music.

Visit our help center to watch videos on how to set up a Songtrust account, or check out our blog post for more information on the Top Ten Reasons You Need Songtrust.

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