Glossary

FIG.7 — THE INDEX

DOCUMENT STATUS: PUBLISHED

REGION: US-FIRST

TERMS

32 DEFINED

PUBLICATION // THE INDUSTRY — GLOSSARY

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Every term used across this section, in one sentence each. Where a term is genuinely explained by one of the detail pages, the entry points at it.

Filter — term, acronym, or category

B

Blanket licence Licensing route: One licence covering a collective’s whole catalogue, so a service can play any work in it without negotiating song by song. SNR holds none at launch — this is how it works elsewhere. Licensing →

CISAC — International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers Organisation: The international federation of authors’ societies; it maintains the IPI and ISWC standards that let a work be identified across borders.
CMO — Collective management organisation Organisation: The umbrella term for any body that licenses, collects and distributes on behalf of many rightsholders at once — PROs and mechanical collectives are both CMOs.
Composition — The work, or the song Copyright: The song underneath a recording — the notes and the words — owned by its writers and their publishers, and unchanged when somebody else covers it. The three streams →
Consent decree Legal structure: The antitrust settlements that require ASCAP and BMI to license any service that asks, on non-discriminatory terms. SESAC and GMR are not bound by one. Licensing →
CWR — Common Works Registration Identifier: The file format publishers and societies use to register works with each other; the reason a registration made once can be recognised worldwide.

Direct licence Licensing route: An agreement made straight between a service and a rightsholder, with no collective in between — so the payment is by name and on the service’s own cycle. It is the only route SNR takes at launch. Licensing →
DSP — Digital service provider Organisation: Any service that delivers music to listeners digitally — SNR, Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp.

GMR — Global Music Rights Organisation: A for-profit US performing rights organisation with a small, high-value writer roster and no consent decree. Licensing →

HFA — Harry Fox Agency Organisation: A US mechanical licensing agent, long predating the MLC, still issuing mechanical licences and collecting for participating publishers.

IPI — Interested Parties Information Identifier: The eleven-digit number identifying a writer or publisher across every society in the world. Without one, a society has a share it cannot attach to a person.
ISRC — International Standard Recording Code Identifier: The twelve-character code identifying one specific recording — a track and a remix of it are different ISRCs.
ISWC — International Standard Musical Work Code Identifier: The code identifying a composition — a T followed by ten digits. Every recording, cover and live version of one song shares it.

Master — The sound recording Copyright: One specific recorded performance, owned by whoever paid for or was assigned it — the artist, or a label. The three streams →
Mechanical royalty Royalty stream: What the composition earns when it is reproduced — a stream, a download, a pressing. The three streams →
MLC — The Mechanical Licensing Collective Organisation: The US collective created by the Music Modernization Act to administer the blanket mechanical licence and pay the publishers and writers it can match. SNR licenses directly and holds no MLC blanket — but still reports to it. Licensing →
MRO — Mechanical rights organisation Organisation: A collective that administers mechanical licences specifically — the MLC in the US, MCPS in the UK.

Neighbouring rights Royalty stream: The performance royalty on a sound recording paid in most countries outside the US, including on broadcast radio. Its absence on US radio is why the same play pays differently in two countries. Type of use →

Performance royalty Royalty stream: What the composition earns when it is performed in public — streamed, broadcast, or played in a venue. The three streams →
PRO — Performing rights organisation Organisation: A society that licenses public performance of compositions and distributes what it collects — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR in the US. The three streams →
Pro-rata Payment model: The standard streaming payout model: every subscription in a market is pooled, then divided by share of total plays — so where your money goes has little to do with what you played. What SNR does →
Publisher share Rights split: The half of a performance royalty that goes to the publisher — or to the writer, if they publish themselves. The three streams →

Recoupment Contract term: Repaying an advance out of royalties before any further money reaches the artist. It is why an artist with plays can still be paid nothing. Who’s in the chain →

Sealed pool — User-centric payment model Payment model: SNR’s model: one subscriber’s money is split only between the artists that subscriber played, and never pooled with anyone else’s. What SNR does →
SESAC Organisation: A for-profit US performing rights organisation, invitation-only and not bound by a consent decree. Licensing →
Significant nonblanket licensee — SNBL Licensing route: A service that licenses everything directly and still owes the MLC a Notice of Nonblanket Activity, a monthly usage report and the administrative assessment. SNR operates to that standard from launch. What SNR does →
SoundExchange Organisation: The US collective for the digital sound-recording performance right, which by statute pays the featured artist 45% directly rather than through their label. SNR’s radio, when it opens, will license directly instead. Type of use →
Statutory licence Licensing route: A licence the law grants on fixed terms, so the rightsholder cannot refuse it and the rate is not negotiated. The US blanket mechanical is one; SNR uses none at launch. Licensing →

Unmatched — Black box money Payment model: Royalties earned by a work nobody has registered, so there is no one to pay. Held until the work is registered, or until the collective distributes the balance — which the MLC has not yet done. What SNR does →
UPC — Universal Product Code Identifier: The barcode identifying a release as a product — an album or a single — as distinct from the recordings inside it.

Waiver Licensing route: A society member granting a right to a service directly instead of routing it through their society, where the law and the society’s rules allow it. Licensing →
Writer share Rights split: The half of a performance royalty that a society pays to the songwriter. A label or publisher cannot take it to pay down an advance. The three streams →