One more royalty musicians should be aware of is the Mechanical Royalty. Mechanical Royalties are generated when there is a reproduction of copyrighted in an “audio only” sound recording such as CD’s, digital downloads and albums. In order to reproduce copyrighted music one must first obtain a Mechanical License. Basically a Mechanical License is issued for every song that is to be reproduced. Each territory will have their own organization that looks after Mechanical Licensing. In Canada the organization that oversees Mechanical Licenses is the CMMRA. CMRRA generally issues Mechanical licenses at the rate of 8.3¢ per song, for every song copied and has a duration of 5 minutes or less. Each minute above 5 minutes is granted 1.66¢ per additional minute. The Harry Fox Agency looks after Mechanical Licensing in the USA. The Harry Fox Agency generally grants Mechanical Licenses at the rate of 9.1¢, for every song copied and has a duration of 5 minutes or less. Each minute above 5 minutes is granted 1.75¢ per additional minute. If a a record company is reproducing CD’s or albums with your songs on it, they have to get a Mechanical License from their Territory’s organization and pay the applicable rate for each time the song is reproduced. In this digital age the mechanical royalties issued can vary with the different streaming platforms. Subscription services and permanent digital downloads can all have different ways of calculating the royalty so it is worthwhile check out your territory’s Mechanical Licensing organization and registering your songs. See you on Friday! Enjoy!
CMRRA website:
The Harry Fox Agency website:
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