Music and How the Money Flows

2015 updated version

Kristin Thomson

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

How are musicians and songwriters compensated when their music is played on the radio, sold on digital platforms, webcast or streamed on interactive services? Click through any of the infographics below to see how the money flows for on US-based sales, performances and streams.

The information in this infographic is subject to change based on ongoing litigation, business model development and federal policymaking. FMC does its best to keep up with these changes and update the infographics accordingly.

By type of service/use. Click for bigger version.

Broadcast radio and webcasting	Digital sales	Interactive streams

By type of label/rightsholder. Click for bigger version.

Big labels	Indie labels	Self released

Chart Legend
MC: the revenue generated by the musical composition, which flows back to publishers and songwriters.
SR: the revenue generated by the sound recording, which flows back to the sound recording copyright owner (usually a record label) and the recording artists and performers.

The whole thing on one enormous infographic. Click for bigger version. See this as a PDF.

See this as a PDF. To see the 2013 version of this infographic, click here.

Want a full-color, 33” tall poster version of this image? Order one on our merchandise page for only $15.

We’d like to thank our copyright expert friends who helped us put this together. As with all of these efforts, we want to ensure that the information is accurate and complete. If you have suggestions or corrections, contact us!