One of the most important parts of music publishing is not just collecting royalties - it's making sure those royalties actually make their way back to the musicians who earned them.
At Elizabeth Music Group, we believe musicians should have a clear understanding of when their publishing royalties are collected and when they are paid.
That is why Elizabeth Music Group pays publishing royalties every month when royalties are received and available for payout.
How Does It Work?
When your music generates publishing royalties, those royalties can come from many different sources.
For example, royalties may come from:
Performance royalties
Mechanical royalties
International collecting societies
YouTube and digital uses
Radio
Television
Other licensed uses of your compositions
These organizations and platforms don't all pay on the same schedule.
Some royalties may arrive at different times depending on the country, organization, platform, usage, and reporting cycle.
When Elizabeth Music Group receives publishing royalties on behalf of a client, those royalties can then be processed for payment.
We don't believe musicians should have to wait unnecessarily for money that has already been received by their publisher.
Monthly Payments Instead of Waiting for a Traditional Quarterly Cycle
Many musicians are accustomed to seeing royalty statements and payments on quarterly or even longer schedules.
Elizabeth Music Group takes a different approach.
We pay publishing royalties monthly when we receive them, rather than holding them simply because a traditional quarterly payment cycle is more convenient.
For musicians, this can mean more frequent access to the money their music has generated.
Instead of waiting months for the next scheduled payment, royalties received and available for payout can be included in the next monthly payment cycle.
Why Monthly Royalty Payments Matter
Music creators have expenses throughout the entire year.
Producers might need to purchase equipment.
Songwriters might invest in studio time.
Artists might spend money creating new music.
Musicians shouldn't have to think of their publishing income as money that only arrives a few times a year.
More frequent royalty payments can make it easier to:
Monitor your music income
Reinvest in your career
Manage cash flow
Understand how your catalog is performing
Keep track of royalties as they are generated
The difference may seem small, but over the course of a career, having a more consistent understanding of your publishing income can be valuable.
Not All Royalties Arrive at the Same Time
It's important to understand that monthly payouts do not mean every royalty your song generates will arrive every month.
The timing of the payment depends on when the underlying royalty source reports and pays the money.
For example, a performance in one country may be reported and paid on a different schedule than a digital use in another country.
Elizabeth Music Group cannot control when every collecting society, platform, or licensee sends money.
What we can control is what happens after royalties are received by Elizabeth Music Group and are available for payout.
That's where our monthly payment approach comes in.
Your Royalty Portal
Transparency is another important part of publishing representation.
Elizabeth Music Group clients receive access to a personalized royalty portal where they can view information about royalties that have been collected.
The portal provides visibility into royalty amounts and catalog activity, allowing clients to better understand where their publishing income is coming from.
Rather than simply receiving a payment and wondering where the money came from, musicians can have access to information that helps them understand their catalog.
Publishing Is Different From Distributor Income
It's also important to understand that publishing royalties are separate from many of the royalties musicians receive through their music distributor.
A distributor generally handles money associated with the sound recording/master.
Publishing relates to the underlying musical composition.
That means a musician can receive money from a distributor while still having publishing royalties being generated elsewhere.
This is one reason proper publishing representation is so important.
Our Philosophy
Elizabeth Music Group was built around the idea that musicians deserve better education and transparency when it comes to their publishing.
We don't want publishing to feel like a mystery.
Musicians should understand:
Where their royalties come from.
How their songs are registered.
Which territories are generating income.
How royalties are collected.
And when those royalties are paid.
Our monthly payout approach is part of that philosophy.
The Bottom Line
Elizabeth Music Group pays publishing royalties every month when those royalties are received and available for payout.
The actual timing of royalty generation and collection can vary because different organizations and platforms operate on different reporting and payment schedules.
But once publishing royalties are received by EMG and available for payment, our goal is simple:
Don't make musicians wait longer than necessary to get paid.
Music creators work hard to create the songs that generate these royalties.
They deserve to understand where their money is coming from and they deserve to receive it as efficiently and transparently as possible.
Elizabeth Music Group: Music Publishing & Rights Management.
We help musicians get paid.
