Photo Credit: Yoel Gonzalez

Apple, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, and more have entered into agreements allowing Word Collections to license and collect all songwriter and music publisher royalties for its clients directly from those services in territories outside the United States.

This article was created in collaboration with DMN partner Word Collections.

Managers, labels, law firms, and publishing administrators can use those direct collection pipelines for the songwriters and catalogs they represent. Word Collections says its direct collection model typically delivers 55% to 100% more digital publishing revenue than legacy collection routes and pays up to a year faster. Clients choose which works, rights, services, and territories that Word Collections administers—no upfront fees, no multi-year commitment, and no retention period after termination.

Word Collections’ agreements with major digital service providers (DSPs) offer a direct route to streaming royalties in Europe, the UK, and around the world. The company was founded in 2020 by Jeff Price, the Founder & Former CEO of TuneCore of Audiam. Word Collections is backed by Metallica as its lead investor, establishing itself as a direct licensing forerunner with established relationships with Apple, Amazon, and Spotify for covering streaming royalties in Europe and the UK. It also has direct relationships with YouTube, Deezer, TikTok, Peloton, and other services in territories around the world. Coverage varies by service; for example, YouTube is covered worldwide with the exception of Argentina.

These agreements provide infrastructure that managers, law firms, labels, and publishing administrators can use for the songwriters/publishers they represent. Clients gain access to Word Collections’ licenses, technology, staff, accounting, and payment systems to use as needed.

Every stream generates royalties for both the recording and the underlying song. A label or distributor collects the recording royalty. Word Collections collects the songwriter and publishing royalties—the second royalty that a distributor does not collect. For streaming uses covered by its direct agreements, Word Collections collects mechanical royalties and both the publisher’s and songwriter’s shares of public performance directly from the DSP. The company deducts one disclosed admin fee and pays as the client directs, with statements showing the source, country, usage, and gross amount behind each payment.

Under the existing legacy model, even getting pipelines to digital services is itself a difficult task. Even when those pipelines exist, traditional collection routes move royalties through several organizations before payment reaches the client. The money is split up and passed around, with multiple administration fees taken along the way with no assurance that every portion ultimately reaches the songwriter/publisher. The fraction of the money that does make it to the songwriter or publisher typically takes between 12 and 18 months to arrive.

By collecting directly from the digital services, Word Collections removes the multiple middlemen from that collection path. This efficiency also reduces latency, admin fees, business practices tied to AM/FM radio, and the splintering of royalties among other organizations. In addition to collecting directly from the digital services, Word Collections finds more money by finding all recordings of a musical composition, including the original recording, covers, live versions, remixes, karaoke, 8-bit, and other versions. It then claims and recovers the songwriter/publisher royalties earned from streams and uses of those recordings directly from the DSPs.

According to Word Collections, traditional systems built for analog broadcast television and AM/FM radio cannot identify all the recordings and typically miss between 5% and 20% of earned royalties. The company says the typical 55%-100% increase reflects the combined effect of sound recording identification and direct collections from DSPs, which removes middlemen and outdated business practices.

Word Collections’ clients have the option to have a global pub admin deal or select individual services and territories rather than place their entire worldwide catalog under one administration agreement. A manager could choose Apple, Amazon, and Spotify royalties in Europe and the UK; YouTube worldwide excluding Argentina; or U.S. digital mechanical royalties through the MLC. Clients can add or remove artist works by schedule and adjust the selected scope.

A client’s agreement with Word Collections can be terminated on 30 days’ notice and has no retention period during which Word Collections continues administering rights after the relationship ends. Additionally, existing PRO and CMO affiliations can remain in place for income outside the selected scope. Word Collections can also work alongside an existing publishing administrator when that admin authorizes it to handle digital rights.

“Our licenses, technology, and staff become infrastructure that band and business managers, labels, and publishing administrators can use,” Price tells Digital Music News. “They choose the scope and determine who gets paid what to accomplish their goals, under an agreement they can terminate at will.”

A new client signs one agreement, and afterwards, payments can go to the client, directly to songwriters’ bank accounts, or be split to pay an agreed commission. Statements can carry the client’s branding or Word Collections’ branding.

In the United States, covered digital mechanical royalties are collected through the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Clients can select that service, and Word Collections uses its technology to identify recordings that have not been linked to the correct song and claim the associated royalties. The company reports a typical uplift of about 20% from its U.S. work, separate from its direct collection results outside the United States.

Clients also receive access to a private, searchable lead list covering artists whose recordings have streamed in Europe, the UK, Canada, and the U.S. It includes Spotify listener counts, social media audiences, tour dates, contact information, representation status, and estimated uncollected U.S. mechanical royalties held at the MLC. Managers, labels, and administrators can use this list to identify potential signings and approach them with the infrastructure already in place to collect those royalties.

Word Collections’ clients include Metallica, Jason Mraz, Three Days Grace, Greta Van Fleet, The Offspring, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Silversun Pickups, John Oates, Bridgeport, and St. Nicholas (“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas”), as well as Rebel Artist Management, Arson Theory Management, Gold Theory Management, and other select publishers, songwriters, and managers.

Managers, labels, publishing administrators, law firms, and self-published songwriters can visit managers.wordcollections.com to get started, choose the services and territories they want covered, and discuss the applicable administration fee.