Overview of the Whillo Royalty Program
Whillo offers artists and publishers a revenue share model that pays out artists and publishers based on how many minutes their content is played on a monthly basis.
Here are the basics of the program:
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is split 50/50 between Whillo and artists/publishers. Revenue from Whillo will be a straight 50/50 split in gross monthly subscription revenue. Distribution via other channels will be a 50/50 split on net revenue.
- Of the 50% that is split between artists & publishers, payment amounts are based on the total number of minutes the respective artist or publisher has had their content streamed on Whillo.
- For example: If Whillo has $1000 in MRR, $500 goes towards Whillo and $500 goes towards artists/publishers. If there are 4 artists/publishers on Whillo and each has their content streamed for an equal amount of time, each artist would receive $125 that month.
A video explaining Whillo and our royalty system.
Yes, you can view a demo royalty page here: https://whillo.com/demo-royalty-page/
Please note that data displayed at the top of the page (the Royalty/Minutes listened chart) is livedata and may take a few moments to process and load. This data is from an actual publisher (with identifying information removed) and will fluctuate month to month.
Beginning January of 2024 we’ve switched to monthly royalty payouts.
Minimum monthly payout amounts are $10. If royalties are under $10 they will be carried forward to the following month.
As revenue and royalty calculations are all made in USD, payments are made via Paypal in USD for our US partners.
For our Canadian partners, payments are made in USD via Paypal, or converted to CAD and paid out via etransfer. Please specify which payment method you prefer when completing your application form (at the bottom of this page).
Currently there are two ways to submit content to Whillo:
1. Via an established production company or publisher.
2. Whillo will work with artists to produce content and handle all aspects of production.
Artists are paid for their time when producing content together with Whillo (eg. Singers and performers will be paid an hourly rate, narrators are paid per-finished-hour of audiobook narration).
If submitted via a publisher or production company, the rights belong to the publisher/artist and they are simply paid a royalty as long as the content is available on Whillo.
For music or audiobooks that the Whillo team has produced and paid for, that content is owned by Whillo (they become assets to the business). Royalties will be paid in perpetuity to the artist as long as the content is featured on Whillo or other streaming channels owned by Whillo.
Royalty rates will be reviewed after a period of two years (mid-2024) as we will know more about the feasibility of the 50/50 revenue split.
Yes, we will credit all artists for their work on Whillo unless other arrangements have been made or the artist was hired specifically to produce white labelled content for Whillo.
Short answer: if Whillo is earning money from your content, you are earning money from your content.
However, occasionally certain tracks may be published free of charge for advertising purposes.
For example, we may have the first track of an album available to listen to on our catalog page to draw in subscribers, or a partial sample track on YouTube for increased exposure.
We may also distribute some CDs free of charge for marketing purposes.
Example: We give a stack of CDs to a Christian music shop or book store with an insert in the CD that says “Listen to 4 bonus tracks with a Whillo subscription”.They are encouraged to sell our CDs at 100% profit and Whillo now has a great lead generation tool. If any profit is made by Whillo on the sales of physical CDs we then split that with the artist 50/50.
Yes, artists will be paid for their time in studio, typically $40/hour, minimum 1 hour.
Travel and per-diem expenses may also be paid for in cases where artists are travelling from far.
Compensation will be discussed and agreed upon with all artists prior to commencing a project.
For privacy and business IP reasons we do not share subscriber counts or percentages of playshare with artist directly, only their total payout dollar figure and monthly minutes listened.
This data is automated and will be displayed on a password-protected online portal (unique to each artist/publisher) where artists/publishers can view historical data and payout amounts.
If percentage or subscriber verification is requested by an artist/producer we are happy to help arrange this through a third-party arbitrator or via in-person screenshare.
