How music royalties distribution works: timing, delays, and what to expect

If you hold shares in a music catalogue or if you’re a rights holder yourself, you’ve probably asked: why haven’t royalties been distributed yet? The short answer is that music royalties are never paid in real time. There is always a delay – typically 3 to 6 months – between the period when royalties are generated and the date they are actually paid out. This delay is an industry standard, and it exists because distributors, collecting entities, and publishers each follow their own reporting and reconciliation cycles before releasing payments.

At ANote Music, we process royalty distributions for dozens of music catalogues, each with different distributor setups and payout schedules. This article explains how that process works in practice: how distributor calendars affect your payouts, and how to know what to expect depending on the catalogues you hold.

Along the way, we’ll answer the most common questions our investors ask: 

• Why are royalties paid later than the period in which they are generated?
• Why do some distributors pay quarterly while others pay semi-annually?
• How many distributors are involved in my catalogue?
• What should I check when a payout seems lower than expected?

How long does it take to receive music royalties?

To understand the timing of royalty distributions, it helps to separate two things: when royalties are generated and when they are distributed.

When royalties are generated

Music usage happens in real time. Every stream, download, broadcast, public performance, or sync placement generates royalties the moment it occurs.

When royalties are distributed

Before those royalties reach music rights holders, they must pass through a reporting and allocation process. Distributors, publishers, record labels, and collecting societies gather earnings data from platforms, stores, and territories worldwide. They then verify the data, match it to the correct rights holders and contractual splits, and only then release the payment.

Music royalties are not paid immediately because earnings must be reported, verified, and allocated across multiple rights holders before distribution. This reconciliation process – handled by distributors, publishers, labels, and collecting societies – creates a standard industry delay of around 3–6 months.

The exact timing depends on the reporting schedules of each entity involved in the collection process. Some distributors operate on monthly cycles, others quarterly, and international reporting can extend timelines further. As a result, payouts reflect completed reporting periods rather than real-time music usage.

When and how often do distributors pay royalties?

To answer this question, you must first understand how many distributors your music catalogue has. The simplest case is a catalogue with a single distributor. If that distributor pays monthly, you can expect twelve distributions per year. If quarterly, four. And so on.

One catalogue can have multiple distributors and each distributor has its own distribution frequency. 

When a catalogue has more than one distributor, their payment schedules may not align. Some distributors pay monthly, others quarterly, others semi-annually. As a result, the same catalogue may receive royalties in different months, with each payment coming from a specific distributor and covering a different reporting period.

Distributors may pay in different months because each distributor follows its own reconciliation cycle. They collect and verify data across multiple territories, platforms, and collecting societies – and some royalty categories may take longer to process than others.

For this reason, it’s important to understand which distributors and reporting periods are included in each royalty payout you receive.

Good questions when reviewing the royalty distributions of a music catalogue, would be:

• Did I receive royalties from a distributor covering a small percentage of the royalties I’m entitled to receive? 
• Did all the distributors of my catalogue pay already for that specific reporting period?

Why can a catalogue have more than one distributor?

Because different types of music rights are managed by different entities. 

• Songwriters and composers are typically represented by their local collecting society (or PRO), such as SACEM in France, SIAE or Soundreef in Italy, or GEMA in Germany, which collects certain royalties on their behalf. While they are free to change society if they wish, most songwriters and composers affiliate with the one in the country where they are based.
• Recording artists and producers are typically represented by a record label or a digital  distributor, which collects and administers the royalties linked to the master recording on their behalf. Depending on the contracts, they can also choose to change label or distributor over time. And across a career, it is common for different songs within the same catalogue to have been released under different labels or distribution partners, especially when the catalogue spans many years.

Now imagine a well-known song being streamed on Spotify.

Spotify pays for that stream. But it doesn’t pay all the money to a single party – it splits the payment. One part goes to the owner of the master recording (usually a record label or digital distributor), and another part goes to the owner of the composition (the songwriter or composer), through their collecting society.

So even for a single song on a single platform, Spotify is paying at least two different entities.

If there are multiple songwriters on the same song in different countries – say, one represented by SACEM in France and another by GEMA in Germany – the publishing payment flows through more than one collecting society. And if there is more than one recording artist or producer, the master payment may also be split. 

This is why, when a catalogue groups multiple songs and different types of rights, more than one distributor is typically involved.

Let's take the example of the Steve James Producer Catalogue, on ANote Music.

Steve James has worked in 2016 with Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha for the release of the song "In The Name of Love", which is distributed by Sony Music.  At the same time, he has also worked with Andy Grammer for the song "Best of You", released in 2019, which is instead distributed by BMG. 

As a result, the Steve James Producer Catalogue receives royalties from both Sony Music and BMG, which pay royalties quarterly but in different months throughout the year.

Real examples: how royalty distributions work on ANote Music

Example 1: Single distributor – Brian Tarquin Catalogue

The Brian Tarquin Catalogue includes the publisher’s share of public performance royalties from three-time Emmy Award winner Brian Tarquin’s second, third, and fourth studio albums.

This catalogue has a single distributor: SESAC, a US-based collecting society that pays royalties quarterly. If you hold shares for an entire year, you can expect four royalty distributions.

Based on historical distributions, SESAC typically pays on the following schedule:*

Key takeaway: royalties are typically paid with a delay of around 3 to 4 months between the end of the earning period and the payout date.

Example 2: Two distributors – Gia Koka Catalogue

The Gia Koka Catalogue includes songwriter and publishing royalties from compositions by the Dutch artist Gia Koka, including “Crazy” by Lost Frequencies.

Royalties for this catalogue are collected by two distributors with different frequencies:

• Buma Stemra: quarterly (four payments per year) 
• Sony Music Publishing: semi-annually (two payments per year)

Based on historical distributions, Sony Music Publishing pays royalties with the following calendar*:

Based on historical distributions, Buma Stemra pays royalties with the following calendar*:

When both distributors’ calendars are combined, the Gia Koka Catalogue effectively has a quarterly distribution frequency, as payouts from both distributors coincide in April and October.

‍What this means for investors:

• April and October payouts may result in a higher payout per share, because they include royalties from both distributors. 
• At certain points in the year, Buma Stemra may have already reported a specific period while Sony Music Publishing has not – so a single distribution may not reflect the catalogue’s full earning potential for that period.

Checklist: understanding your catalogue’s royalty distribution

When reviewing a royalty distribution – or wondering why a payout looks different from what you expected – these are the questions to ask:

1. How many distributors does my catalogue have? 
2. How often does each distributor pay (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually)?
3. Which distributors contribute the most to the catalogue’s total royalties?
4. Which distributors were included in the latest distribution?

Key point: If one or more important distributors are not included in a specific distribution, the amount you receive may naturally be lower. That doesn’t mean the catalogue is earning less overall – it just means this particular payout only includes part of the royalties for that period, and the rest will arrive when the other distributors report and pay.

*These royalty payout dates are based on historical distributions by the distributor and may be subject to change

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Performance and returns are not guaranteed and may fluctuate over time.