By Martha Mendoza, RadioPRO Board Member
Artists have never had more ways to reach an audience, and they have rarely had a harder time being paid properly for it. As streaming reshaped how music gets consumed, it also made royalty collection considerably more complicated. That gap – between how widely music travels and how reliably the money comes back – is the reason RadioPRO Ltd exists.
We represent:
- Composers and lyricists, who write the notes and the words.
- Performing artists, the musicians and singers who turn a composition into a recording.
- Producers and publishers, who take music from the studio out into the world.
- Ensembles and bands, working collectively.
As a Collective Management Organisation, our job is to sit between the people who make music and the many businesses that use it. We manage copyrights and related rights, handle the licensing, and make sure that businesses can use music lawfully while the people who created it are paid.
Why royalties matter
Royalties are not simply another revenue line. For most working musicians they are what makes the next project possible. They come from several sources:
- Public performance – music played live, in rooms ranging from a small cafe to an arena.
- Broadcast – airplay on radio and television.
- Streaming – now the primary way most people listen.
- Mechanical reproduction – CDs, vinyl and digital downloads.
Collecting and distributing that money properly matters for three reasons. It gives artists outside the mainstream a predictable income, which is what allows someone to keep working without constant financial anxiety. It encourages people to take creative risks, because fair payment makes experimentation affordable. And it keeps the industry itself healthy: when everyone who contributes is paid, talent stays in the business instead of leaving it.
What the digital shift has broken
Streaming opened up global audiences and, at the same time, introduced problems that the old system never had to solve.
Per-stream payouts are small, so artists need very high volumes before the earnings amount to much. Music now crosses borders instantly, which makes tracking and collecting across different jurisdictions and platforms far harder than it used to be. And everything depends on metadata: if the information attached to a recording is incomplete or wrong, the royalties are misallocated and the artist is simply not paid for work that was used.
How we have responded
- Transparent licensing. Affordable licensing options mean more businesses license music legally, which widens the royalty pool without pricing users out.
- Member engagement. Annual general meetings and summits exist so that members can raise concerns directly and get answers.
- Better data. Advanced data management improves the accuracy of royalty tracking and distribution, reduces errors and gets payments out on time.
- Education. Guidance and resources help artists understand rights management well enough to make good decisions about their own careers.
What is still unresolved
Piracy has not gone away. Unauthorised use and distribution remain a genuine drain, and we monitor infringements and work with legal partners to act on them.
Technology keeps moving. Virtual reality concerts and AI-generated compositions raise questions the existing frameworks were not written for, and we expect to keep adapting.
And the law lags behind the industry. We engage with policymakers to argue for legislation that reflects how music actually works now, rather than how it worked twenty years ago.
The wider effect
Getting royalty management right does more than benefit individual creators. It allows artists to keep making work that reflects a broad range of experience, which is what keeps a culture interesting. It supports employment across event management, retail and media production. And it gives artists enough financial independence to retain creative control rather than bending to whoever is paying.
Two examples of the sort of thing we see. An independent musician releases an album, finds that streaming alone returns very little, and then starts receiving royalties from international airplay and public performance – enough of a cushion to begin the next record. A group of songwriters find their collaborative work has taken off in a country they have never visited; efficient global collection turns what would have been an administrative nightmare into a straightforward payment.
Beyond the money
Supporting artists is not purely financial. We connect members to one another, because collaboration tends to start with a conversation. We run workshops on contract negotiation, marketing and financial planning – the practical skills that determine whether a career lasts. And we point members towards mental health and wellbeing resources, because the pressures of this industry are real and largely unspoken.
Working internationally
Music does not respect borders, so neither can rights management. We partner with CMOs and rights organisations worldwide so that royalties can be tracked and collected wherever a recording is played. Supporting artists from different backgrounds also does something less measurable but worth saying: it keeps music working as a conversation between cultures.
We are also investing in what comes next, through mentorship and educational work aimed at the next generation of artists, and by supporting projects exploring new musical technologies and platforms.
In closing
The music industry changes constantly, and artists are usually the last to benefit from the changes. RadioPRO’s commitment is to make sure creators are not lost in that churn – by prioritising transparency, adopting technology where it genuinely helps, and building a community that supports its members.
For any artist trying to navigate this business, working with a CMO that takes those obligations seriously is a practical step towards protecting both their income and their independence. Music is more accessible than it has ever been, and yet too many of the people making it struggle to see a return. Closing that gap is the work.