Royalty Guide · 4 min read
Writers, splits and IPI numbers
The three pieces of information that decide whether a song can be paid.
A writer is a person, not a name on a text file. Societies identify writers by IPI number — a unique identifier assigned when a writer joins a society. Two writers with the same name are distinguished by their IPIs, and a missing IPI is one of the fastest ways to have a registration held for review.
Splits are the proportions in which a song is owned, and they are agreed between the writers, not calculated by anyone else. Write them down at the session while everyone is still in the room. A split agreed six months later, over text message, in a disagreement, is much more expensive than a split agreed in five minutes on the day.
Different rights can carry different splits — performing, mechanical and synchronisation shares are not always identical. label records each of them separately so that what gets registered is what was actually agreed.
What to remember
- Collect every writer's legal name, society and IPI number.
- Agree splits at the session and record them.
- Performing and mechanical shares can differ; state both.