The important questions. Answered plainly.

The licenses, agreements, technology, data systems, staff, administration, royalty accounting, auditing and collection infrastructure needed to collect selected digital songwriter and music-publishing royalties. In addition, our synchronization team pursues opportunities for TV, film, commercials and video games. You are our client and direct how the infrastructure is used.

No. It is publishing administration for the specific digital services, rights, territories, songwriters and musical works you select. We do not need to control everything. You can use us for the high-value digital collection lanes you want and leave everything else where it is.

No. Every stream generates separate money for the sound recording and for the underlying song. A label or distributor generally collects the recording royalty. It does not collect the second, separate songwriter and publisher royalty that Word Collections administers and collects.

No. A songwriter or publisher does not need a PRO or CMO affiliation to use the Word Collections infrastructure. We can administer and collect the selected digital rights directly through our available licensing and collection paths.

That is not a problem. Word Collections can work alongside them for the selected services, rights and territories, while the PRO or CMO continues handling income outside that scope.

Sometimes. If the client controls the relevant rights, or the existing administrator authorizes it, Word Collections can administer selected services, rights or territories while the existing administrator handles the rest. Word Collections can also redirect payment to the existing publishing administrator, increasing revenue for the administrator and its songwriters.

No. The manager can narrow the scope, move rights or terminate on 30 days’ notice. The existing collection infrastructure can also create leverage: a future administrator must either add value beyond what is already in place or improve its terms.

Yes. Choose the songwriters, musical works, rights, services and territories. Use worldwide coverage, the United States only, outside the United States only or a custom mix. Add or remove works and change the selected scope by written direction.

There is no advance, setup fee or minimum catalog commitment. The standard collection fee is 15% of money collected. Additional administration for multiple direct deposits from one song catalog may add 2.5%, as agreed in writing. Any synchronization terms are agreed separately.

Direct collection shortens the collection chain. It removes upstream intermediaries and their fees, preserves royalties that are often left unmatched or unclaimed, improves the matching of recordings to compositions, and corrects missing or inaccurate claims. We also do not rely on inaccurate or incomplete third-party data and systems to determine what should be collected. Our ownership information comes directly from you, and we use it to make and maintain the correct claims. Direct collection also avoids splitting off 25% or more of certain royalties and sending that money to another organization as the songwriter’s share of public performance income—where it may be delayed, reduced by another fee, or never reach the correct songwriter. The actual increase varies by catalog, usage, territory, digital service and the collection path previously used.

Traditional royalty chains outside of the United States move money through several organizations before it reaches the songwriter. Each one operates on its own time frame, typically making payments quarterly or, in some cases, biannually. Direct collection shortens that path. Timing varies by service and territory.

Word Collections registers and maintains your works and works directly with the MLC. Jacobi, our sound-recording identification system, identifies every known recording embodying each musical work. Concello was built specifically to audit and monitor the MLC. It tracks every work and ownership share we submit, confirms what the MLC registered and audits whether each identified recording is being paid. Because the MLC can pay the same recording from Apple while failing to pay it from Spotify or another service, we identify these service-by-service holes, correct the data and claims, recover current, historical and unmatched royalties, then audit and repeat. Based on current comparative results, this work produces an average 20% increase in U.S. mechanical royalties collected; results vary by catalog.

You decide. We can pay you, pay songwriters directly, or split payments so an agreed commission goes to you and the balance goes to the songwriter. Statements can be organized by songwriter and branded with either your firm’s logo or Word Collections’ logo.

Statements are currently issued quarterly, with payment within 45 days after the end of each quarter, subject to the agreement’s payment threshold and required account and tax information.

It continues in successive 30-day periods. Either party may terminate at will on 30 days’ written notice. The same process can remove a particular artist, song, service, territory or right without ending the entire relationship.

No. When a selected scope ends, Word Collections stops licensing and administering new uses within that scope. The agreement includes a 12-month post-term collection period only so Word Collections can receive and account for delayed payments attributable to uses that occurred while the agreement was active. That collection period is not a retention of rights and does not cover new post-term uses.

You may optionally engage our synchronization team, on a non-exclusive basis, to pitch and pursue placement opportunities in television, films, commercials, video games and other media. The team can represent the sound recordings, the compositions or both, depending on the rights the client controls and chooses to include.

No. Synchronization opportunities depend on the needs of music supervisors, producers, brands and other buyers. Our team can pitch, respond to opportunities, help evaluate terms and negotiate approved licenses, but no placement or income can be guaranteed.

Tell us. If a service is strategically valuable, Word Collections can evaluate and pursue a licensing or collection path. Activation depends on available rights, agreements and the service accepting the required data and direction.