This article explains when Revelator issues your royalty report and the payment that goes with it, and how long DSPs take to report streams, downloads, and claims.
What you'll learn
|
How the money moves
- A DSP reports and pays Revelator.
- Revelator runs its royalty run and pays you your share.
- If you have your own payees, you then run your own royalty run in Revelator to pay them.
| Note Your own payees' payout rates apply to the revenue you receive after your distributor's share, not to the DSP's gross revenue. For example, a payee on a 70% payout rate gets 70% of what reached you. |
When your royalty report and payment arrive
Revelator follows the same monthly cycle:
| What happens | When |
|---|---|
| Royalty run | 15th of each month, give or take 2 days depending on the weekend |
| Revenue reports and statements available | Between the 15th and the 25th of the month |
| Payment triggered | 25th of the month, give or take 48 hours depending on the weekend |
The delay between activity and reporting
Each DSP takes a different amount of time to report an activity (stream, download, or claim):
| DSP | Reporting delay |
|---|---|
| Apple, YouTube | 2 months (you would be paid in March for January activity) |
| Amazon | Varies between 2–3 months |
| All other DSPs | 3 months. In some cases, smaller DSPs can take much longer, as they can run into reporting issues. |
| Note Sometimes DSPs discover missed transactions months or years later. The DSP then issues an adjustment report (and payment) for these transactions. When Revelator receives historical reports and funds, it includes them in your statement too. You'll see this in the Transaction Date column of the detailed transactions part of your statement. |
Example: from stream to payout
Imagine a stream or download happens in September. All DSPs report (at minimum) per month, so it makes no difference whether your music was streamed or downloaded at the start, middle, or end of the month.
Many DSPs then issue reports around mid-to-late October, but in most cases Revelator won't actually receive payment for these reports until mid-to-late November. Revelator runs its royalty run on the 15th of the month (give or take 2 days), and if it hasn't received payment from a DSP by that date, that DSP isn't included in that run.
So it's fairly typical to receive your statement and payment in Revelator's December 25 royalty run for most DSPs. Apple and YouTube are exceptions and tend to be only 2 months after the fact.
When your payment arrives
Once Revelator triggers your payment, the exact date of arrival may vary depending on your country and the payment method defined in Tipalti.
Read: Payout Schedule & Supported Payment Methods by Country.
What your statement includes
Because DSPs report on staggered schedules, any given month's statement will include streams and downloads from many different activity months. This information is shown on your statement's detailed (raw data) page, along with the relevant DSP.
Your statement's detail page shows exactly which DSPs were included in the report:
- Look at the summary tab.
- On the sales raw data tab, filter on columns B and C to see the reporting month and the DSPs' transactions included in the statement.
What you need
Finance → Payouts → Distributor Balance
- Tipalti (where your payment method is defined)
Account access
| Account | Distributor Balance access |
|---|---|
| Organization / Tenant | Can view the Distributor Balance (Finance: Viewer or Editor) |
| Client | Doesn't see the Distributor Balance |
| Label Portal | Doesn't see the Distributor Balance |
| Artist Portal | Doesn't see the Distributor Balance |
| Payee Portal | Doesn't see the Distributor Balance |
Check what Revelator has paid you
If Revelator is your distributor, you can see the statements, payments, and adjustments Revelator has made to you:
- Go to Finance → Payouts → Distributor Balance.
Rules and limits
| Important US tax withholding: if your tax forms in Tipalti aren't complete, 30% of royalties from US streams is withheld automatically. If you run your own royalty runs, pay your payees the net amount after withholding. Read: Tax withholding of US source income to non-US taxpayers. |
- Revelator can only include in your statement what has been paid out in the month before Revelator sends out your Revelator statement.
- Revelator's general payout policy: Revelator pays out funds within 30 days of receiving them from DSPs or Merlin. For example, funds received up to October 31 are reported in Revelator's November statement.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't last month's revenue on my statement?
Most DSPs report and pay 2–3 months after the streams. Revelator can only pay out funds it has received.
I've just started distributing. When will I see my first royalties?
Allow about 3 months.
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