Who gets paid when the music plays? : a comparative analysis of royalty collection and distribution by European CMOs. Whitepaper

This paper has explored the collection of royalties and its distribution to music creators across the top-15 European CMOs in 2024, with a specific focus on upward potential in the digital age. The analysis revealed significant variability in the royalty collections and payouts, and in the costs thereof. Some countries, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, demonstrate highly efficient systems, while others, like Italy and Belgium, clearly lag behind. Denmark’s CMO KODA seems to be the European benchmark, since it is outperforming all other CMOs in the royalties collected per capita at relatively low costs.