According to IFPI’s annual Global Music Report, Latin America saw a 25.9% spike in revenue in 2022, with Mexico — one of its biggest markets — up by nearly the same amount (24.3%). The only region in the world that showed bigger gains that year was Sub-Saharan Africa; its music industry revenue increased by 34.7%.
A big part of Mexico’s steady growth has been Spotify. Just six years after its launch in 2013, the platform claimed they were responsible for 60% of the country’s label revenue. The company also declared Mexico City “the world’s streaming mecca” in 2018, when the city drew more listeners than any other city in the world.
Deezer has also expanded heavily in Mexico. It partnered with TV Azteca in 2020 to deliver its services to 3 million new users — a 43% usage increase according to the company.
The rates for royalties at Deezer, Spotify and other DSPs are set by each platform. For instance, Spotify gives its artists a share of a region’s total streaming revenue that’s based on the percentage of the region’s total streams for which the artist is responsible, while Apple Music simply pays a flat $0.01 per-stream rate. DSPs send these royalties to Collective Management Organizations (CMOs), who then pay out the artists whom they represent.
Because of this, it's important for any artist receiving streams in Mexico to have a basic understanding of the pay sources operating in the region. Here’s a brief look at them:
ANDI, National Association of Performers
Launched: 2004
Membership Size: N/A
Official Site: https://www.andi.org.mx/
Socials: @andi_mexico; @ANDIMexico
Pay Source Type: PRO
Type of Royalties: Performance
About: ANDI stands for Nation Association of Performers (or Asociación Nacional De Intérpretes in Spanish). It is a PRO in Mexico that represents performers, a group that consists of singing actors and other hired singers who appear in audiovisual material. ANDI licenses the copyrights for the reproduction of this material and collects royalties for any use.
EJE Ejecutantes
Launched: 1999
Membership Size: 1700 members and manages a catalog of about 900 thousand songs.
Official Site: https://www.ejecutantes.com/
Socials: @ejecutantesmx
Pay Source Type: PRO
Type of Royalties: Performance
About: EJE is a relatively small PRO that covers the copyrights of performing musicians and singers, including mariachi bands and orchestras.
SACM, Society of Authors and Composers in Mexico
Launched: 1945
Membership Size: 31,372 members; 435,030 musical works represented
Official Site: https://www.sacm.org.mx/
Socials: @sacm_oficial; @SCM_Oficial
Pay Source Type: CMO
Type of Royalties: Performance and mechanical
About: The most noteworthy CMO in Mexico, SACM stands for Society of Authors and Composers in Mexico (or Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México in Spanish). It has loosely existed since 1945 but its current form was instituted in 2007. SACM collects both performance and mechanical royalties, according to the IFPI. They are affiliated with CISAC, WIPO, and BIEM, aligning them with hundreds of international CMOs and allowing them to distribute licenses for the works internationally and collect any international royalties these works procure. They are the only CMO with this degree of international royalty collection in Mexico, which is among the reasons they cover over half of all Mexican artists.
Don’t Leave Your Royalties to Chance
While becoming a member with a local collection society is a crucial step in securing your rights as a songwriter, you shouldn’t stop there. After all, they only collect a portion of the royalties you earn when your songs are used.
If you are registered with SACM — the most noteworthy CMO in Mexico — it will collect both performance and mechanical royalties, but its bandwidth for global collection is limited. That means that revenue from royalty streams such as international streaming, radio, and live performance can be lost if you rely on them to handle it.
Follow the steps below to ensure you’re collecting all the music your music generates everywhere it is played worldwide:
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Use a digital distributor such as CD Baby or DistroKid. They’ll make your music available on digital streaming and download platforms all over the world, and will collect and pay your recording royalties.
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Affiliate with your local Performing Rights Organization (PRO) or Collective Management Organization (CMO). They will collect royalties in your local territory, and your affiliation ensures you are identified as a writer within the publishing industry, which makes it possible for global pay sources to allocate your royalties.
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Register your songs with a publishing administrator, such as Songtrust, who in turn registers your songs directly with global performance and mechanical societies all over the world.
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Register your songs with an organization that collects neighbouring rights or digital performance royalties generated by your recordings. In Mexico, Sociedad Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas, Videogramas y Multimedia (SOMEXFON) would be responsible for these royalties.
If you have additional questions about pay sources in Mexico or music publishing in general, please reach out to our team.
