I understand how performance and mechanical and sync royalties work. I can’t find the answer I’m looking for anywhere: I know the venue pays dues for the right to have people perform; I know the collecting organizations distribute the royalties to the artists who own the IP; but HOW do the organizations know WHICH artists to pay?
If I play 45 songs a night at a local pub, how do I know the artists I actually play, will be paid?
Are set lists supposed to be submitted? Do the collection organizations audit venues to see what was performed? Do all represented artists just get a percentage of all royalties collected, regardless of whether their songs are performed? What is the **mechanism** that puts the money in the pockets of the CORRECT artists? Or IS there one?
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Depends on the system used by whoever is collecting and distributing the royalties. The PRS in the UK [have some limited details here](https://www.prsformusic.com/royalties/dj-royalties) about how they work out who to pay royalties to; it comes down to some people reporting what they play, and them sending “music researchers” and unspecified “Music Recognition Technology” that figures this out.
Basically they guess. And this has been controversial in the past, as the systems they have used historically tend to be weighted towards bigger names and the more industry-friendly artists rather than the more independent ones.
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