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Can Streaming Platforms Withhold My Revenue?

Streaming platforms follow their own guidelines and procedures when it comes to monetizing your music, which may sometimes result in revenue being withheld or delayed. Here’s what to expect when you distribute music on streaming platforms 👇


How Your Revenue is Calculated and Shared

  • As a distributor we only share the data and revenue that is provided by the streaming platforms.
  • We don’t take part in calculating your earnings and we don’t receive a detailed breakdown of how revenue is calculated by the platforms.
  • The data you see on your iMusician dashboard and monthly sales reports corresponds exactly to the information shared with us by the shops.

How Long it Takes to Monetize Your Music

Revenue from streams and downloads will appear in your sales report about 4 months after the streams are generated. Here’s why:

  1. Streaming platforms need to review your streams and downloads during this period to determine how much can be monetized.
  2. The shops must ensure that streams and downloads comply with their terms of use. Non-organic streams (e.g., from stream-boosting practices) will be de-monetized.

Why Your Revenue May Be Withheld

Streaming platforms reserve the right to withhold revenue based on their internal processes and guidelines. This could result in revenue being shared later than usual due to extended reviews or other platform-specific reasons. If you notice missing revenue for a specific shop, it usually means that:

  • None of your streams were monetized. Ensuring your streams are generated organically and within the platforms’ guidelines is critical to avoid revenue being withheld or delayed.
  • The platform hasn’t shared the sales data with us yet. We cannot predict when specific shops will share this data with us.

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