Streaming services and online sales
Royalties are the amount labels pay to artists from the commercial exploitation of a recorded track. Artists are paid royalties according to their percentage of ownership for a recording (the master rights to a song). The artist's earnings depend on how much their songs sell and stream and streaming on what percentage of the master rights, the artist is entitled to.
A label manages the master rights to a recorded track and strives to ensure the best use of the recording, among other things by distributing and marketing the track and seeking to place it for sync. The artist gets a percentage of the profits that the track generates. The share paid to the artist can vary from anywhere between 1-80%.
Some labels use an aggregator (digital distributor) to upload their music to online sales and streamingservices. An aggregator takes a share before payment to the label, which then pays the artist in accordance with the agreed royalty rate.