PROs, Publishers, Admins: Who Collects Your Money and Who Takes a Cut

If you wrote a song, four types of organizations want to send you money. Knowing what each one does is the difference between earning $1,000 and earning $5,000 from the same body of work.

The four players

1. PRO — Performance Rights Organization

Who: BMI, ASCAP, SESAC (US); PRS (UK); SACEM (France); GEMA (Germany); SOCAN (Canada).

What they collect: Performance royalties — money paid when your composition is publicly performed.

• Radio play
• TV broadcasts
• Live venues
• Bars, restaurants, gyms (yes, all of these pay)
• Webcasts and digital radio
• Streaming "performance" portion (small, ~12-15% of total streaming)

Their cut: ~10-15% admin fee.

Critical fact: You can only join ONE PRO. They split the territory but compete for songwriters. Most indie artists pick BMI (free to join) or ASCAP ($50 fee, slightly better US payouts for radio).

2. Publisher / Publishing Admin

Who: Full publishers (Sony Music Publishing, UMPG, Warner Chappell, BMG) and admins (Songtrust, Kobalt, CD Baby Pro, ASCAP+, Tunecore Publishing).

What they collect: Mechanical royalties + helps collect performance royalties from international markets.

• Mechanical royalties: paid when your composition is reproduced (downloads, vinyl, CDs, streams). In the US, paid via the MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective). Internationally, paid via local mechanical societies.
• Sync royalties: when your song is licensed for film, TV, ads, video games.
• International collection: a US PRO doesn't collect royalties from German radio. A publishing admin will.

Their cut:

• Full publisher: takes 50% of "the publisher's share" (essentially 25% of gross publishing) AND co-owns the copyright
• Admin: takes 10-25% of what they collect but you keep 100% of the copyright

Big tip: Unless you're a top-100 songwriter, NEVER sign a full publishing deal. Use an admin (Songtrust is the most common — $100 one-time fee + 15% of collected).

3. SoundExchange (US only)

What they collect: Royalties for the master when your recording is played on non-interactive digital radio.

• Pandora
• SiriusXM
• Internet radio (most webcasters)
• Satellite radio

Their cut: ~5% admin fee.

Critical fact: SoundExchange is separate from PROs and publishers. They pay the master rights holder + the featured artist + non-featured musicians. Most indie artists never register and leave thousands of dollars sitting in escrow.

Register today at soundexchange.com — takes 10 minutes, free.

4. Mechanical Societies (international)

• MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective — US, free, mandatory)
• MCPS (UK, via PRS)
• MCNA (Mechanicals Northern Alliance — EU)
• HFA (Harry Fox Agency — US, optional, used by some publishers)

Most artists collect mechanicals through their publishing admin, which simplifies everything.

The full money map for one song

Imagine you wrote, produced and recorded a song that got 10M Spotify streams + radio play + a TV spot + Pandora plays. Here's where every revenue stream goes:

Source	Type	Collected by	What it pays
10M Spotify streams (master)	Streaming royalty	Distributor (DistroKid, etc.)	~$30,000 minus 0% (DistroKid)
10M Spotify streams (composition)	Mechanical + streaming performance	Publishing admin (Songtrust)	~$8,000 minus 15%
Radio play (composition)	Performance royalty	PRO (BMI/ASCAP)	Varies, ~$200-$2,000 per spin nationally
Pandora plays (master)	Digital performance royalty	SoundExchange	~$0.001 per stream
TV spot	Sync fee + ongoing performance	One-time sync fee + PRO (composition) + ??? (master)	$5,000-$500,000 sync + ongoing

Without setting up all four pipelines, you literally cannot collect everything you're owed.

What to set up today (1 hour total)

1. Join a PRO as a songwriter

   • BMI: free, takes 10 minutes, broadcaster.bmi.com
   • ASCAP: $50, ascap.com/join

2. Register every song you wrote with your PRO before release.

3. Register with SoundExchange as a sound recording owner.

   • soundexchange.com → "Register your recordings"

4. Sign up with a publishing admin to collect mechanicals + international performance.

   • Songtrust ($100 one-time + 15% of collected)
   • Or CD Baby Pro Publishing (free if you use CD Baby for distribution)

5. Set up your DSP profile correctly

   • Spotify for Artists
   • Apple Music for Artists
   • Make sure your name is spelled identically everywhere

Common mistakes that cost real money

• ❌ Joining BOTH BMI and ASCAP. You can only be in one.
• ❌ Not registering songs BEFORE release. Backdated registration sometimes can't recover past royalties.
• ❌ Signing a full publishing deal early. You probably don't need it. Use an admin.
• ❌ Forgetting SoundExchange. ~$50M sits unclaimed there every year.
• ❌ Not splitting publishing with co-writers in writing. Lawsuits ensue.

TL;DR

• PROs (BMI/ASCAP/etc.) collect performance royalties for compositions.
• Publishing admins (Songtrust/Kobalt/etc.) collect mechanicals + international.
• SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties for the master.
• Distributors collect streaming/download for the master.

You need all four pipelines or you're leaving money on the table.