Interactive streaming
Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal
- Master · Yes
- Mechanical · Yes
- Performance · Yes
- SR performance · Bundled
- included via the streaming / master licensing model
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment
Type of use
FIG.5 — THE USES
DOCUMENT STATUS: PUBLISHED
REGION: US-ONLY AT LAUNCH
MODEL
USE → RIGHTS → ROUTE
PUBLICATION // THE INDUSTRY — USES
The rights a song triggers are not a property of the song. They are a property of what somebody just did with it. Choosing a track, being played a track, buying a copy and hearing it on the radio are four different legal events, and they pay four different sets of people.
This is why "how much does streaming pay" has no answer until you say which kind of streaming.
| Use | Master | Mechanical | Performance | SR performance | On SNR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive streaming Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bundled | We run this |
| Digital download / purchase iTunes, Bandcamp purchase | Yes | Yes | No | No | We run this |
| Physical sale CD, vinyl | Yes | Yes | No | No | We run this |
| Terrestrial radio (FM/AM) FM, AM | No | No | Yes | No | Not us |
| Non-interactive webcast Pandora Radio, SiriusXM web streams | See below | See below | Yes | Yes | Not at launch |
| Interactive video / music YouTube Music, on-demand video | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bundled | Not us |
SR performance is the sound-recording performance right — a separate right from the master licence, and the one the US treats differently from everywhere else. Bundled means the right is covered by the primary licence rather than paid separately.
US treatment. Other countries differ — most notably on terrestrial radio, where a neighbouring-rights royalty is usually paid.
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment
The same six rows, in words
Every use, and exactly what it triggers.
Digital download / purchase
iTunes, Bandcamp purchase
- Master · Yes
- Mechanical · Yes
- Performance · No
- SR performance · No
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment
Physical sale
CD, vinyl
- Master · Yes
- Mechanical · Yes
- Performance · No
- SR performance · No
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment
Terrestrial radio (FM/AM)
FM, AM
- Master · No
- no — no sound-recording royalty on US terrestrial radio
- Mechanical · No
- Performance · Yes
- SR performance · No
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment (other countries often pay a neighbouring-rights royalty)
Non-interactive webcast
Pandora Radio, SiriusXM web streams
- Master · See below
- licensed as digital performance, not on-demand master use
- Mechanical · See below
- usually no — the listener cannot choose specific tracks
- Performance · Yes
- SR performance · Yes
- yes — via SoundExchange (US digital performance royalty)
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment
Interactive video / music
YouTube Music, on-demand video
- Master · Yes
- Mechanical · Yes
- Performance · Yes
- SR performance · Bundled
- included via platform licensing
Source: 2026-08-06 type-of-use framework — US treatment
The anomaly
US radio pays the songwriter and pays the recording artist nothing.
A song played ten million times on US FM radio earns for the writer and the publisher, and $0.00 for the featured performer and the owner of the recording. In the US the sound-recording performance right covers digital transmissions only, and broadcast radio is exempt. Most other countries pay a neighbouring-rights royalty here.
It is not an oversight and it is not new. The performance right in a sound recording was written to cover digital transmissions, and broadcast radio sits outside it — which is why the same song pays a session player in London and pays them nothing in Ohio.
Source: The sound-recording performance right is digital-only in the US — 17 U.S.C. §106(6), §114(d)(1)
Scope
6 uses. We run 3 of them today — the rest are either not ours, or decided and not part of the launch.
The table is the law, not a description of this platform. Here is which rows are actually ours, including the two that are not, and what is built but not launching.
Interactive streaming
We run this
This is the service, US listeners only at launch. Every right is licensed directly: a master grant or the recording does not play, and each writer share resolves per writer, per right, per territory.
Source: ToS/licensing-policy.md §2, §3, §7; src/snr/api/policy.py
Digital download / purchase
We run this
SNR runs a store, for US buyers only at launch. A digital purchase is a reproduction, so it carries a mechanical obligation that a stream of the same track does not discharge.
Source: ToS/licensing-policy.md §6, §7; src/snr/db/models/store.py (Purchase); src/snr/store/
Physical sale
We run this
SNR sells physical items, which grant a digital unlock at purchase. The same mechanical obligation applies to the copy that is manufactured — and the artist, as seller, carries it.
Source: ToS/licensing-policy.md §6, §7; src/snr/db/models/store.py (physical purchase, digital unlock)
Terrestrial radio (FM/AM)
Not us
SNR is not a broadcaster and never will be. This row is on the page because it is the clearest illustration of the sound-recording performance right being digital-only in the US.
Source: Context only — no broadcast surface exists in the platform
Non-interactive webcast
Not at launch
SNR’s station radio is not part of the launch. When it opens it runs on SNR’s own direct licences with a radio scope, not on the SoundExchange statutory licence — so the 50/45/5 split above is the route SNR does NOT use. Master owners get a per-release opt-out, writers and publishers can exclude radio when they accept, and only tracks every rights holder allowed will play.
Source: ToS/licensing-policy.md §10; register row RADIO-RIGHTS; STREAM-20
Interactive video / music
Not us
SNR has no video: no video player, no video pipeline, no video rights. If a recording is used in a video anywhere else, SNR cannot see it, cannot report it, and cannot collect on it — that is the platform hosting the video to account for, not us.
Source: No video model or media pipeline exists in the platform
One grant per use, not one grant for everything.
Streaming, station radio and sync are different uses that need separately-granted rights, and a grant for one is not a grant for another. The licence a writer accepts together with their songwriting share names its uses: on-demand streams and downloads bought on SNR, in the US — not station radio, not sync. A standalone grant records only the rights and the territory.
Source: ToS/licensing-policy.md §2, §10; src/snr/db/models/license_grant.py (LicenseScope: on_demand_and_downloads for a share's licence, snr_usage_only for a standalone grant; LicenseRights is mechanical/performance/both); COMP-21
The exception that steps over a contract
On non-interactive radio, the artist's share is paid to the artist.
For non-interactive digital radio, the sound-recording royalty is split by statute before anyone’s contract applies.
This is the statutory route, and it is not how SNR's radio works. SNR’s station radio is not part of the launch. When it opens it runs on SNR’s own direct licences with a radio scope, not on the SoundExchange statutory licence — so the 50/45/5 split above is the route SNR does NOT use. Master owners get a per-release opt-out, writers and publishers can exclude radio when they accept, and only tracks every rights holder allowed will play.
- The featured artist, paid directly
- 45%
- The owner of the recording
- 50%
- Session musicians and vocalists, via their funds
- 5%
The artist’s 45% is paid to the artist, not routed through the label’s accounting — the one place the statute steps over a recording contract.
Source: The statutory webcast split — featured artist, session funds, owner — 17 U.S.C. §114(g)(2); the route SNR does not use — ToS/licensing-policy.md §10