LOOM22 — Transparency
You signed
some things.
Most artists don’t find out what they agreed to until years in. We’d rather you know now.
The music industry isn’t evil. It’s old. It was built in layers — each one solving a real problem at a specific moment in time. PROs were created because artists couldn’t collect royalties themselves. Managers existed because artists needed someone to navigate the machinery. Distributors emerged because getting music into stores required relationships most artists didn’t have.
Each layer made sense when it was invented. The problem is the world changed and the layers didn’t. Today most of those intermediaries persist not because artists need them — but because the agreements that created them are still in force.
This page is about those agreements. What you signed. What it means. And what a different model looks like.
IPROs — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR
When you joined a PRO, you granted it the right to license the public performance of the songs you write — usually including songs you write later, for as long as you are a member.
A typical membership agreement covers works you write or acquire during your membership, not only the ones you have registered. The terms differ between societies, and between writers and publishers.
Registration is mainly how royalties are tracked. The grant usually happened when you joined. An unregistered, unreleased song may already be covered.
In the United States, ASCAP and BMI take non-exclusive grants under their federal consent decrees, so members keep the right to license directly. SESAC and GMR work under their own terms. Either way, a direct deal can carry notice and reporting steps, so read your agreement before you sign one.
For emerging artists, PRO distributions are often zero or negligible for years — plays below reporting thresholds simply don’t count.
When you upload to LOOM22, you confirm your PRO status — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, or unaffiliated. LOOM22 records it, and what you grant LOOM22 depends on it. Platform-level performance licensing is planned as a LOOM22 operating cost — not a charge on you. Confirm your affiliation at upload and tell us if it changes. Section 6d of the Terms of Service sets out the rest.
II15–20% of gross. Sometimes long after.
Standard management contracts take a percentage of gross income — not net — and many include sunset clauses that keep paying the manager on deals made during the contract, years after you part ways.
Commission rates of 15–20% of gross income are standard. Gross, not net — before your costs.
Sunset clauses mean a manager who helped you sign a deal in 2022 may still collect on it in 2028, even if you parted ways in 2024.
Some contracts define income broadly enough to include revenue streams the manager had nothing to do with.
The contractual structure was designed in an era when artists had no other way to access the industry. That era is ending.
LOOM22’s proposed platform rate is public: it starts at 30% and is designed to step down toward 22% as the platform grows. No hidden commissions, no sunset clauses, no one collecting on work they had no hand in. Paid commerce is not live yet.
IIIThey may own your masters. Possibly forever.
Traditional record deals commonly grant the label ownership of your master recordings — not a license, ownership — and many labels retain those masters even after all costs have been fully recouped.
Labels recoup all costs — recording, marketing, advances — before paying artist royalties. An artist can generate millions in revenue and still be "unrecouped" on paper.
Even indie distribution deals can include content ownership clauses, revenue holds of 30–90 days, and metadata rights.
Some distribution agreements also give the distributor a say in how your music is described and categorized.
The master recording of a song is a separate asset from the composition. Many artists don’t realize they’re different things until after signing.
LOOM22 takes no ownership of your work. Whatever you own — the master, its parts, your metadata, the rules you set — stays yours. LOOM22 receives only the licenses its Terms of Service describe: a limited license to host, process and stream your work on the platform and, once a listener buys permanent access, a license to keep delivering that purchase to them (Section 6b). If you leave, your masters leave with you, and listeners who bought permanent access keep it on LOOM22, on the terms Section 6b sets out. Both are true at once.
IVOne shared pool. Shared with everyone.
Most streaming royalties are calculated from a shared pool. What your plays earn depends on everyone else’s plays as well — your audience’s loyalty is measured against every other stream on the service.
The pro-rata model pools all subscription revenue, divides by total platform streams, and pays each artist their fractional share.
There is no fixed per-stream rate. Your share moves with total listening on the service, not only with what your own fans do.
Some services add their own thresholds. Spotify, for example, pays recording royalties only on tracks that reach a minimum number of streams in a year.
What reaches you also depends on your label or distributor agreement, which takes its share before you see yours.
LOOM22’s proposed model uses direct allocation: a listener who supports you directs a specific portion of their subscription to you by name, not to a pool. Your revenue would follow your listeners’ choices, not your share of a global stream count. Paid subscriptions are not live yet.
VOne song. Six separate claims.
A single song can involve performance rights, mechanical rights, master rights, sync rights, neighboring rights, and publishing rights — each controlled by a different entity, each with their own accounting cycle, each taking a cut.
Performance rights — the right to play the song publicly. Controlled by PROs (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC).
Mechanical rights — the right to reproduce the song (make copies). Controlled by mechanical licensing agencies.
Master rights — the specific recording. Often owned by the label, sometimes by the artist.
Sync rights — the right to pair the song with picture: film, TV, games, ads. Licensed separately, usually by both the publisher and whoever owns the master.
Neighboring rights — performance royalties for the recording itself, separate from composition rights, collected by different organizations in different countries.
Publishing — the business of the composition. In a traditional publishing deal, income is often described as a writer’s share and a publisher’s share.
Most artists learn this incrementally over years. Usually after signing things.
LOOM22’s model is built on one principle: what you made stays yours. LOOM22 is responsible for the platform’s own licensing obligations. You keep responsibility for the rights you hold and the agreements you have signed. We’re explicit about what layer we occupy and what it costs.
Why we’re telling you this
Because LOOM22 is built on the idea that transparency is the foundation of a real relationship — between artists and their work, their listeners, and the platforms that host them.
We’re not telling you this so you’ll trust us. We’re telling you because you should know exactly what you’re navigating — and exactly what LOOM22 is and isn’t.
LOOM22 has its own obligations. We operate under copyright law like everyone else. Our proposed platform fee is public, and it is designed to step down as the platform grows. We’re not outside the system. We’re building a different model within it.
What we’re building toward: a world where the artist’s relationship with their listeners is direct, durable, and unmediated. Where revenue reflects actual support, not algorithmic share. Where the things you make stay yours.
That’s not a revolution. It’s a correction.
The information on this page reflects publicly available information about standard industry agreements and practices. It is educational, not legal advice. Individual contracts vary. If you have questions about agreements you’ve signed, consult an entertainment attorney.