Making Sense of YouTube Monetization With Songtrust

YouTube can be a valuable source of revenue for songwriters, but understanding how royalties are collected—and whether you're receiving everything you’re owed—can be confusing. In fact, did you know that videos on YouTube can generate royalties on both the recording side and the publishing side? Ensuring that both your recording and publishing royalties are properly being handled is essential to maximizing your earnings.

While your distributor or label may be collecting royalties your music has earned from YouTube on the recording side, it’s possible that they are collecting those royalties on the publishing side too. Be sure to review any agreements ahead of opting into YouTube collection with a publisher or a publishing administrator like Songtrust, as you should only have one entity collecting your publishing royalties from YouTube.

If you’re working with Songtrust, here’s how YouTube monetization works for your compositions. 

Does Songtrust Collect YouTube Royalties?

Yes—Songtrust offers YouTube monetization as part of our worldwide publishing administration services.

Once you add songs with at least one ISRC to your account, we automatically deliver them to YouTube’s Content ID system, which scans uploaded videos for matching content. This process allows us to claim most monetizable videos on your behalf, automatically. YouTube pays us monthly, and we distribute these royalties at the end of the following quarter according to our regular distribution schedule.

Songtrust clients can opt into YouTube publishing collection at the songwriter level, meaning all compositions associated with that songwriter will be included. At this time, we are unable to manage YouTube collection on a song-by-song basis.

You can rest assured that eligible videos are being claimed on your behalf, and you can track all successful claims through the YouTube Claims page in your Songtrust account.

What Makes a YouTube Video Eligible for Royalty Collection with Songtrust?

Songtrust handles YouTube monetization on your behalf in the United States and Brazil. But, only on videos that meet YouTube’s current eligibility requirements, meaning the channel that uploaded the video must have at least 1,000 subscribers, either more than 4,000 valid public watch hours over the past 12 months or 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days, is of someone in a country/region where the YouTube Partner Program is available, and has a linked AdSense account. 

In many other territories, YouTube royalties are collected by that country’s performing rights organization (PRO), collective management organization (CMO), and/or mechanical rights organization (MRO). For a current list of monetized YouTube markets, check out the service’s help center here. 

How to Allowlist Your Channel and Monetize Your YouTube Videos Directly

If you have your own YouTube channel, we can claim any of its uploads on your behalf. However, you also have the option to “allowlist”  (formerly referred to as “whitelisting”) your channel (or any other channel) if you (or the channel owner) would like to monetize those videos yourself directly rather than through Songtrust’s collections. The decision is entirely up to you.

If you have a YouTube channel, and are utilizing YouTube’s Partner Program, you should add your channel to your YouTube Tool’s allowlist within your Songtrust account. We can still claim any videos on other users' channels if they do not have a proper agreement with you in place.

In some situations, you may want to prevent Content ID from claiming videos that certain YouTube channels upload. For example, a movie studio might not want to claim videos from a channel that reviews and promotes its films. You can exempt channels from Content ID claims by adding channels to your allowlist.

What Happens When You Opt Out of YouTube Monetization? 

Since many creators engage with third parties to monetize their music on YouTube, we make it possible for Songtrust clients to opt out of our direct YouTube collection service. Opting out of YouTube collections does not mean that no claims can be placed on videos using your music. It only means that Songtrust will not place these claims directly. 

Societies around the world have the right - and often the government mandate - to place claims on and collect for YouTube usage of songs in their repertoire, in the absence of another rightsholder. 

This means that if you don’t have a deal with another organization for YouTube collections, societies around the world may claim and collect on your songs when used in YouTube videos in their territory. 

When you sign up for publishing administration, you are giving your administrator and their partners — such as global rights organizations — the right to license and collect on your works around the world. For more information on Songtrust and YouTube monetization, check out our Help Center or reach out to us directly here.