What is a Collection Society?

A collection society is an organization that manages and collects royalties on behalf of creators and rights holders when their works are used publicly. These organizations monitor how music and other copyrighted works are performed, broadcast, or reproduced and ensure that creators receive payment for those uses.

Collection societies typically handle activities such as licensing music for public performance, tracking usage across platforms like radio, television, streaming services, and venues, and distributing the collected royalties to songwriters, composers, publishers, performers, and recording owners.

These organizations play an important role in the music industry by simplifying royalty collection across many different territories and platforms. Instead of creators negotiating licenses individually with every user of their work, the collection society manages licensing and payment distribution on their behalf.