What Is the Difference Between An "At Source" and "Receipt" Deal?

Here’s how to make the most of your royalties.

An “at source” publishing deal bases the percentage of royalties paid to the songwriter on earnings in the country where the royalties were generated. A “Receipt-based” deal bases the percentage of royalties paid to the songwriter on earnings in the country where the payment was received, not where it was generated.

For example, let’s say your U.S. publisher formed a partnership with a French company to collect earnings for a song that’s generated $100 in mechanical royalties for usage in France. If you have a “receipt-based” deal, your publisher will pay you whatever percentage you are owed based on the amount they receive.

Their receipts are calculated after the French publisher takes their cut. So if you signed a 75/25 deal in the U.S., and your publisher agreed to a 75/25 sub-publishing deal in France, you will get 75% of 75% of the original $100 - or, $56.25.

In other words, your U.S. deal is broken down 75/25 domestically and 56.25/42.75 in France, because your U.S. publisher signed a 75/25 sub-publishing agreement.

However, if you signed an “at source” deal, you will maintain the same contract percentage (75/25) wherever you earn royalties in the world. In the above example, you would collect $75 out of the $100 earned in France since you’d take your cut of earnings before any deductions are made to sub-publishers.

Songtrust pledges to make all of our partner agreements as close to “at source” as we can for this very reason — so our clients are able to keep as much of their earned royalties as possible.

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