What Are Public Performance Royalties?

They’re too important to ignore.

Performance royalties are generated when a song is "publicly performed" - broadcast on radio or television, or played in restaurants, bars, or nightclubs. Performance royalties are also generated when your song is performed live (whether by you or another performer), and when it is played on certain forms of digital media, like online radio stations.

If someone wants to use your composition for commercial use, they need a license to do so. Obviously, it's not possible to have every broadcast and performance run by you first. Instead, businesses like radio stations or concert venues pay blanket licenses to Performing Rights Organizations (PROs), who then redistribute those license fees to their members.

Songtrust can affiliate U.S.-based songwriters with ASCAP or BMI, and non-US songwriters with SOCAN or IMRO. We will ensure that your songs are professionally registered for the collection of performance royalties.

The diagram below helps break down the flow of performance royalties:

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