Are there different types of music royalties?

There are four (4) different types of royalties, each derived from a separate and distinct copyright. The four potential sources of royalty revenue in the music recording and publishing industry are:

(1) Mechanical royalties: paid from record companies for record sold based on the exclusive to reproduce and distribute copyrighted works.

(2) Public performance royalties: paid by music users for songs in the operation of their businesses and broadcasts based on the exclusive right to perform publicly copyrighted works.

(3) Synchronization fees: paid by music users for synchronizing music with their visual images based on the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute copyrighted works and to prepare derivative works of copyrighted material.

(4) Print music income: paid by music printers for sheet music and folios based on the exclusive right to distribute copies of copyrighted material.

(Reprinted with permission of Ruben Salazar, Esq.)