You have questions.
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RME provides worldwide royalty collection and licensing services to independent creators, songwriters, and anyone who owns composition rights. We collect royalties on your behalf without owning any percentage of your copyrights and take one of the lowest administration fees, so more money goes directly to you.

RME is the only collection organization capable of finding your copyright across social media platforms. As part of the RME beta program, we will use this data to negotiate licensing agreements with platforms and other music users. 

RME puts creators first. We don’t support market share payments that result in the wrong people getting paid. We believe all creators should be paid what they deserve and understand what they are being paid for. RME will make sure independent creators aren’t being shortchanged, but are getting proper compensation and attribution for their work.

Currently, RME manages composition rights, but we’re on a mission to serve all rights for all creators. If you own audio, video, or image copyrights, please reach out on our contact page to join our waitlist.

Yes. RME uses advanced technology, powered by Pex, to find uses of copyright across social media and user-generated content (UGC) platforms. RME will use its data to negotiate with platforms and other music users.

Currently, RME represents composition rights on social media and other content-sharing platforms. RME is on a mission to support all creators. If you own other audio, video, or image copyrights, please reach out on our contact page to join our waitlist.

Similar to publishers and Performance Rights Organizations (PROs), RME collects and distributes your composition royalties. RME differs from these other organizations in a few ways. 

1. RME focuses significantly on social media platforms that share user-generated content (UGC). RME is the only collection entity with technology capable of identifying your copyright accurately on various social media platforms. Using this technology, RME can find and license more uses of your content.

2. RME doesn’t use market share driven payments because they don’t encourage proper attribution or payment, especially on UGC platforms. RME licenses are based on actual use, so licensees pay for what they need and you are paid what you deserve. RME doesn’t send ‘blind checks’ because we want you to understand your payments.

3. RME gets you paid quickly with detailed information on what was collected and where it was found. Other collection organizations can’t provide such detailed reports because they simply don’t have the information. 

A digital fingerprint is a compact representation of a piece of content that allows us to robustly and efficiently match against other fingerprinted content. Digital fingerprints are at the heart of our advanced content identification technology and allow us to identify copyright with speed and scale. It would take much longer to find matches between two pieces of audio or video if they were not compressed into fingerprints first. Our speed and scale for identification is part of how we get creators paid quickly.

Content identification, often called automated content recognition or ACR, is the process of scanning and matching pieces of content (audio, video, images, or text) based on a reference file. Content identification isn’t a new technology, but as the amount of content on the internet has exploded, it has become more and more important for creators to have advanced technology that finds and claims their copyrights.

Yes. Distributors distribute your music to DSPs and other platforms. RME is not a distributor, and does not send your catalog to DSPs or other services. Even if your distributor also collects your composition royalties, you can choose to have your rights managed by RME instead.

Yes. Currently RME represents your composition rights as a beat maker. Reach out on our contact page to get started. If you own other audio, video, or image copyrights, please reach out on our contact page to join our waitlist.

Yes. Currently, RME represents composition rights for content creators. RME is on a mission to support all creators. If you own other audio, video, or image copyrights, please reach out on our contact page to join our waitlist.

RME does not currently manage recording rights. If you own composition rights to your songs and are not registered with another rights organization, RME is ready to manage your rights. If you own recording rights, please reach out on our contact page to join our waitlist.

1. As part of RME’s beta program, we will actively fight for new licenses to ensure platforms using music are paying creators. This includes negotiating with social media platforms that do not currently license any music, or license limited amounts of music. 

2. RME’s technology finds the most uses of your compositions or beats, which can earn you more royalties. Our pay-per-play model ensures you get paid what you deserve. 

3. RME charges one of the lowest administration fees, so more of your royalties go to you, not us.

As part of our beta program, RME will begin negotiating licensing agreements with social media and other digital platforms.

You can! RME is tracking social media platforms that your PRO/CMO doesn’t track. If your current org does collect royalties from social media platforms, you can try RME and then choose the best service.

If you join RME, you can still work with a distributor to supply your music to DSPs. RME does not distribute or promote your music. If your distributor also manages your rights and collects royalties on your behalf, you can choose to have your rights managed by RME instead. 

Synchronization rights refer to the right to ‘sync’ a piece of music with a visual image, such as a video, film, or television show. Content-sharing platforms need synchronization licenses to cover the use of music uploaded to their sites. As a composition owner, RME manages your synchronization rights across content-sharing platforms.

Public performance royalties are owed to songwriters or publishers when their music is played on radio stations (including streaming and satellite radio), TV shows, commercials, or live venues (including businesses like coffee shops). As a composition owner, RME manages your public performance royalties across content-sharing platforms.

Mechanical royalties are owed to songwriters or publishers whenever a physical or digital copy of a composition is made and distributed. Mechanical royalties are owed when CDs, vinyl and other physical copies are created, when digital copies, including on-demand streams and social media videos are created, and when cover versions are recorded and released. As a composition owner, RME manages your mechanical royalties across content-sharing platforms.

Yes. Songwriters often work with publishers to represent their songs. In this case, royalties will be paid to the songwriter and the publisher individually. Many songwriters manage their own publishing or start their own publishing companies. In this scenario, the songwriter will be paid their share as well as the publishing share of royalties.

Songwriters are owed a share of publishing royalties even if they have never worked with a publisher or if they manage their rights as individuals. RME currently works with independent songwriters who manage their own publishing.

A blanket license provides blanket coverage for the use of an entire catalog or repertoire. Blanket licenses are an easy way to license music because they don’t require recordings to be licensed individually.

Royalties are then paid according to the reporting from the licensees. Businesses with blanket licenses are required to send reports, such as playlists, of the sound recordings that were used. The licensor will then match the sound recordings to the rightsholders and pay based on the statutory royalty rate. 

When it comes to licensing on social media and other content platforms, accurate reporting becomes incredibly difficult. This results in unidentified content and inaccurate payments. When not all content or rightsholders are identified, royalties are lost. 

RME’s technology was built to meet the challenges of identification on social media platforms. With our technology, copyrighted content is accurately identified, enabling pay-per-play licensing that’s transparent and fair. 

The black box is a creative name for royalties that are collected and owed to rightsholders who have not been identified, and therefore cannot be paid. The ‘unclaimed royalties’ are held in the black box until the rightsholders can be identified, or for a limited amount of time, whichever comes first. If the rightsholders are not identified within the set timespan, the black box is then paid out to any known rightsholders based on their market share, leaving the true rightsholders without payment. 

The black box exists across collection organizations, digital platforms, and other places where music is being used or licensed. It stems from the challenges of identifying and attributing content. Identifying content, especially when it’s been altered, edited, and remixed is a monumental task in itself. After identifying content comes the additional challenge of mapping it to the correct owners. 

In music, metadata is the information attached to a song that identifies its recording and composition rightsholders. Unfortunately, important metadata is often missing or incorrect, and contributes to rightsholders not being identified or paid. 

Together, these identification and attribution issues fuel the black boxes that plague music creators. This is why RME leverages the best identification technology available to find the most uses of copyright. We leverage advanced matching technology to link sound recordings and compositions and piece together missing metadata to ensure we have the most accurate information. 

When RME is managing your royalties, you have the best technology on your side, and the most accurate payments.

Unclaimed royalties are payments that creators deserve, but aren’t getting. Unclaimed royalties are created when a copyright is used, but not all rightsholders can be identified because of metadata or other issues.

Because the copyright was identified, it is known that royalties are owed, but without the rightsholders, the royalties cannot be paid. Instead, they are held in a black box until the rightsholders are identified, or until they are paid out to known rightsholders based on market share.