Mechanical royalties are a type of royalty owed by the label to songwriters and publishing companies (composition owners) whenever a copyrighted work is reproduced. This covers streams, downloads and physical purchases.
AWAL does not collect mechanical royalties nor registers works with collection societies on your behalf. When you sign up with AWAL to distribute music, you must separately register your works with both US Societies listed below:
The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) - apply here to register your works
Music Reports Inc (MRI) - apply here to register your works
If you are a songwriter, it is important that you register your claims to prevent licensing or song matching issues that may cause delays in paying out mechanical royalties owed to you.
AWAL will only collect and pay out royalties associated with the Sound Recording from the digital services. It is worth noting each track of recorded music that is distributed has two royalties associated with it:
- Musical Composition: this refers to the underlying song that is being performed, and the copyright owners are those who have written the music and lyrics. This copyright could potentially have multiple owners if multiple people contributed.
- Sound Recording: this refers to the recording itself as a tangible medium that can be played back. The copyright owners are those who performed the recording, those who produced/engineered it, or both. It is common for this copyright to have just one owner, which could be the artist or the label who is releasing the recording.
We will pay out your Sound Recording royalties around the 15th of each month in your statements. Musical Composition royalties will not be collected by AWAL.
Have questions about delivering music with AWAL?
Check out the Digital Distribution section on the Knowledge Base for more details on delivering your songs to stores via AWAL.