What Actually is a Mechanical Royalty?

Everyone says you need to collect mechanicals. Almost nobody explains what they actually are.

Back when music lived on plastic, labels paid a “mechanical” royalty to songwriters every time they reproduced a CD or a vinyl. The name stuck. Today, every on-demand stream counts as a digital reproduction of the composition. Each play is a tiny fraction of a penny. At scale, it is often the biggest missing chunk of an independent artist’s revenue.

Who does not collect them

Your distributor does not collect mechanicals. Your PRO does not collect mechanicals. A publishing administrator does. RightsTune registers the composition so those digital reproduction royalties stop being a free giveaway.