SoundExchange issued $883.9 million in royalty distributions during 2016. That result marked a nearly $80 million increase over its previous record-setting performance from 2015. It was another year of solid growth for SoundExchange payouts; in 2014, they totaled $773 million and in 2013 the figure was $590 million.
SoundExchange also further expanded its roster of registered recording artists and rights owners. At 33,159 rights-holders, the number of payees grew 35.8% from Q4 2015 to Q4 2016.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to increase services to our artists, labels, digital service providers and the entire music industry in 2017,” President and CEO Michael Huppe said.
The year-end results exceeded the $860 million Huppe estimated for the year back in June.