Sony Music to Deliver ‘Real Time’ Data, Royalty Payments to Artists
Sony Music today announced two new payment features for its artists — “Real Time Royalties” and “Cash Out” — through its artist portal beginning this fall. A memo sent to artists Monday morning and obtained by Variety says the initiatives will “allow our artists and royalty participants to view and withdraw earnings faster than ever before.”
“Once launched, Real Time Royalties, available anytime, anywhere through the Sony Music Artist Portal, will provide you immediate updates about your global royalty earnings and account balances as soon as we receive financial reporting from hundreds of digital distribution services on a monthly basis,” the memo continues.
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The move reflects a growing push toward greater transparency in the industry, initiated in many ways by Kobalt, particularly in the often opaque royalty systems in music publishing.
“This major speed improvement eliminates the need to wait for periodic reporting cycles to see your royalty earnings and account balances,” the memo continues. “You’ll also be able to use the Sony Music Artist Portal’s industry‐leading analytics capabilities to interpret your Real Time Royalties data in robust and powerful ways, giving you faster insights into your earnings trends so you can make highly‐informed decisions. Cash Out will give you even greater control over your money by providing you with the ability to request a withdrawal of all or part of your payable balance every month using the Sony Music Artist Portal.”
The memo concludes by noting that the service is provided to Sony Music artists free of charge.
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