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I made a track with my friends, how do we split the royalties?

September 16, 2026

Reading time: 6 min

There’s a fiesty conversation most artists never have until it's too late: who actually owns this song, and who gets paid once it starts earning.

We get it: it feels awkward to bring up money with people you're excited to make music with. It might feel easier to skip the conversation or procrastinate altogether. Often, however, skipping the royalty-talk ends up causing more problems down the line.

In this post, we’ll dive into which roles collaborators take on, different ways to split income percentages, and how you can collect your share once the money starts flowing.

Which roles do the collaborators in a song take on?

Every song, no matter how many people worked on it, breaks down into two categories of contribution. You might focus on just one, work across both, or share a single role with a collaborator.

These two categories are songwriters and performers. Songwriters help compose, create, and write the song, while performers bring it to life in the recording of the song. Here's what actually separates them.

The songwriting side, protected by copyright

If you wrote the lyrics, came up with the melody, or worked out the chord progression, you're on songwriting or "composition" side, and you're protected by copyright. The same goes if you're a beatmaker, if you arranged an existing piece, or if you adapted someone else's lyrics into a new version.

Once you're ready to actually get your composition out into the world commercially, some songwriters bring in a publisher, someone whose job is finding artists to perform the piece. That relationship gets formalized through a buy-out agreement, which spells out exactly how copyright gets split between you and them.

If you're a songwriter or work on the composition side, you'll eventually need to register with a copyright collection agency (such as Bridger) to collect what you're owed.

The performance side, protected by master rights

Once a song moves from paper to recording, a different group takes over: the performers. If you're the lead singer, harmonizing in the chorus, or playing an instrument on the track, you're part of the performance side. Performers are protected by master rights instead of copyright, and consequently earn master royalties.

If there's a producer involved, such as someone financing the studio time or the recording itself, their piece of the master rights gets defined through a recording contract. This agreement lays out royalty splits between those on the performance side and the financing side.

To figure out who gets which rights, separate what each person actually contributed by stage. Everyone who shaped the words or the composition (songwriters, composers, beatmakers, arrangers, adaptors) sits on the copyright side. Everyone who performed it (the singer, chorus, instrumentalists) sits on the master rights side.

Plenty of artists dabble in both worlds, and therefore are eligible for both right types.

To figure out who gets which rights, separate what each person actually contributed by stage. Everyone who shaped the words or the composition (songwriters, composers, beatmakers, arrangers, adaptors) sits on the copyright side. Everyone who performed it (the singer, chorus, instrumentalists) sits on the master rights side.

Plenty of artists dabble in both worlds, and therefore are eligible for both right types.

How do you split music royalty income?

If you’re with a label, it’s likely they’re handling your streaming royalties. But, if you’re independent, you’re responsible for registering your works with collection agencies. If you work on the songwriting side of tracks, you’ll need to register with a copyright collection agency, such as Bridger. If you work on the performance side, you’re master royalties from streaming will be typically collected through your digital distributor.

Both work the same basic way. You register online, indicate everyone's percentage, and provide bank details and email addresses for each person involved. From there, the platform handles splitting and paying out automatically.

Now that you know which side of the rights you are on, you next need to decide who gets what percentage. There's no single formula or “right way” to split income on a track. It’s up to your personal preference, your preferred way of working together with someone, and your relationship (e.g. are they a long-term bandmate who you’d like to stay on good terms with, or a one-off feature).

The Equal Royalty Split

With an equal royalty split, each collaborator takes the same percentage, regardless of who wrote what or who's featured most on the recording.

An examplel of this is U2, who agreed from day one to split everything equally among all four members, including giving their manager an equal share. This removed money as a source of conflict and kept the band together for 40+ years (Forbes, 2014). Coldplay runs the same model, with Chris Martin stating the band splits songwriting, touring, and merch income in an equal 25% shares, regardless of who actually wrote specific songs (Yahoo, 2025).

The data backs this up as well. A Stanford Law School study examining a thousand acts over 60 years found that groups sharing royalties evenly—even when some members' contributions were smaller—produced more successful songs and higher revenue than groups that concentrated royalties on the main contributors (Hypebot, 2024). Opting for an equal royalty split works best when your group shares a unified creative process, and when protecting the friendship matters more to you than tracking exactly who did what.

The Contribution-Weighted Split

If it gets played on the radio, on TV, or in a public venue, that requires registering somewhere else entirely: such as with Bridger, a Collective Management Organization (CMO) or Performance Management Organization (PRO). This, varies based on whether you are based in the United States or Europe.

In short: where your song gets played determines how you collect and which agencies you need to register with.

How do you collect royalty shares?

How to Collect Royalties Earned From Streaming

How to Collect TV, Radio, and Public Performance Royalties

In short: where your song gets played determines how you collect and which agencies you need to register with.

What do I need to rememeber ?

Figuring out who gets which rights starts with separating what each person actually did, splitting income by percentage, writing it on paper, and registering with the appropriate agencies to collect earnings.

Curious to keep learning?

Read our blog posts

Bridger Accelerates Global Expansion with Second Wave of Rights Agreements

How can I receive compensation for private copying?

The purpose of this article is to explain why this assistance exists and who is eligible for it, where the funds come from, who distributes them, and how they are allocated.