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SoundExchange, a non-profit that collects and distributes digital performance royalties for sound recordings, is now enabling registered soundtrack creators to receive royalty payments through Zelle and Block Inc.’s Cash App mobile-payment service.
Washington D.C.-based SoundExchange is a non-profit collective rights-management organization designated by Congress to collect and distribute digital-performance royalties for sound recordings. Digital-performance royalties are generated by the use of sound recordings on Internet radio platforms, such as Pandora and iHeartRadio.
The new payment options build on SoundExchange’s launch earlier this year of a mobile app and other digital tools to support its community of more than 570,000 creators.
Creators opting to receive royalty payments through Zelle will have the money sent directly to their bank account. Creators electing Cash App can have the funds sent to their Cash App mobile wallet.
Zelle the peer-to-peer payment network operated by Early Warning Systems LLC, is available through more than 1,700 banks and credit unions of all sizes across the United States.
“SoundExchange recognizes that more and more creators prefer to receive digital payments for performance royalties and is pursuing partnerships to make that a reality,” SoundExchange chief executive and president Michael Huppe, says in a prepared statement. “Expanding our mobile-payment options…is the latest progression in our journey to build a fairer, simpler, and more efficient music industry.”
Formed in 2003, SoundExchange collects royalties for all sound recordings played on non-interactive digital radio, including recordings and soundtracks made by actors, comedians, and spoken-word artists, in addition to musicians. The organization has paid out more than $9 billion in distributions to date.
