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SPLIT

SPLIT is a tool developed by Believe to make it easier for producers with a distribution deal to manage royalties and share the revenues generated by their catalog among their rightsholders.

What can SPLIT do?

Based on the different revenue shares associated with the tracks, SPLIT will:

  • Automatically calculate the royalties due (net amount)
  • Provide the net amount due to each Collaborator for the period (month, quarter, or semester)
  • Produce complete & accurate financial reports, PDF and CSV (if activated)

Prerequisites

For SPLIT to operate, you will need to fill in 2 main pieces of information:

  • Splits: the revenue shares allocated to each Collaborator. They are set up for each track.
  • See the section How to set up Split rates?
  • Collaborators: any people or organization owning a share of revenue (a "Split") on a track of your catalog. The Collaborator can own an unlimited number of Splits but can only have one role. If one of your rightsholders has several roles on your tracks, please refer to the section How to set up SPLIT when a Collaborator has several roles?

These two concepts are important to understand how to configure SPLIT and have it produce the expected results.

How to set up SPLIT when a Collaborator has several roles?

If a Collaborator has different roles on the tracks in your catalog, there are two ways to set it up depending on the type of report you want to obtain:

  • A report per Collaborator For the same Collaborator, add up all the shares associated with each of his roles and enter this amount as the global share of the Collaborator.
  • A report per role For two different tracks, create two Collaborators with the same name but different roles and the corresponding sharing rate. For example:  
  Track 1 Track 2
Collaborator name John Smith John Smith
Role Composer Artist

 

How to set up split rates?

  • The Split set for a contributor Collaborator on a track will apply to all revenue generated by that track, worldwide and on all platforms.
  • The Split rate is applied to the net revenue you receive from Believe for this track, resulting in the revenue due to the Collaborator as per this track.

To set up a Split, under the finance tab on Backstage open the Split tab, and click on "SET SPLITS":

  1. Select the releases
    • Find the release by searching its title or its UPC or selecting it in the release list.
    • Select all releases you want to add the same Split rates (up to 10 releases at once) then click on “SET SPLITS”.Picture1.png
    • Select all tracks you want to add the same Split rates then click on “Next”

Picture 2.PNG

2. Select the Collaborators and add the Splits on the tracks:

    • SPLIT can automatically identify the Collaborators of the selected tracks thanks to their metadata.
    • But if your Collaborator is not in the automatic selection, click on “NOT IN THE LIST” to select him/her from your Collaborators' list. Or if they're not yet on your list then create a new Collaborator using the option on the page (the Collaborator will be saved to your Collaborators list)
    • Add the Split, on the selected tracks:
    • Click on CONFIRM to proceed to the validation.

Picture 3.PNG

  • The total of Splits cannot exceed 100%. Also, if the total is less than 100%, the rest is automatically attributed to you – see "My Share" in the top right corner.

3. Validate the Splits:

    • SPLIT summarizes what has just been set: make sure all the Splits filled in are correct.
    • SPLIT reminds you of the tracks that do not have a Split yet: check the box if you need to define Splits for the tracks of the release which you did not select in Step 4.
    • If everything's OK, click on APPLY to validate & save the Splits - and eventually to set up the remaining tracks' Splits.

Picture 4.PNG

Tips

  • Clean metadata first to facilitate your Split setup
  • Take the time to fill in the Splits on all the titles in your catalog.
  • Make the setup more efficient by preparing the list of releases & tracks which share the same Splits: set up the Splits on all of them in a row.
  • Integrate the setup of Splits into your routine. When you create a new release in Backstage, fill in all the Collaborators, production, and content information, then add Splits to each track. This will help you save time and get the most out of SPLIT for your business.

How are the Collaborators' reports generated?

SPLIT calculates the royalties due to all Collaborators based on the revenue shares (i.e., the “Splits”) set up on the catalog, and produces financial reports for each Collaborator.

You have access to full statements per collaborator, that you can send to them for full transparency! But if you prefer to send them a simple summary of their monthly revenue, guaranteed by Believe, simply download the PDF!

  • The PDF summary is generated automatically according to the frequency you selected for each collaborator.
  • CSV reports: These detailed reports are not generated by default. They are generated only if you activate them.
      • In case this option is not activated it will be shown as “none”.
      • You can choose 2 more options:
      • Full reports: To include your royalty rate (rate defined in your contract and applied by Believe on the royalties paid by the platforms) in the CSV.
      • Short reports: To retrieve your royalty rate from the CSV file.

When do splits need to be set up for my reports to be complete?

Splits must be set before the 25th of each month for a monthly report.

​If your reporting frequency is quarterly, the Splits must be set up in the tool before:

  • January 25th for Q4 reports
  • April 25th for Q1 reports
  • July 25th for Q2 reports
  • October 25th for Q3 reports

Please be aware that SPLIT will only take the period beginning on the day the split was set; it is not retroactive. For quarterly frequency, it will take into consideration the previous three months if set on the deadline determined above.

When are the Collaborators' reports generated?

The reports are available on SPLIT on the 1st day of the following month.

The revenue other than distribution revenue (like sync, branding, etc.) or adjustments on Backstage are not included in the reports to your Collaborators. So, if some revenue needs to be added, you will need to do it manually in your statement.

How to collect the reports?

  1. Go to the reports page.
  2. Choose the period you want the report for using the drop-down menu.
  3. Then click on the PDF icon or the arrow button to download CSV reports.

What information is included in the financial statements for my rightsholders?

In the PDF summary, you can find revenues by month and the total for the period covered by the report. In the case of reports set quarterly, it will be showing the last 3 months.

In the CSV reports, additional columns have been specifically added to show the distribution and net income of contributors.

See below the name and description of the new columns:

  • Split Rate the rate that you attributed to this Collaborator for this precise track.
  • Collaborator Revenue the net revenue due to this Collaborator as per their share on this precise track

See also the name and description of the other columns in the Financial report:

Reporting month, Sales Month, Platform, Release title, Track title, UPC, ISRC, Sales Type, Quantity, Client, Payment Currency, Unit Price, Mechanical Fee, Gross Revenue, Client share rate, Net Revenue

How to make sure the statements are complete and correct?

Make sure you have correctly completed the setup phase:

  • All the tracks of your catalog must have a Split setup.
  • All the Splits on these tracks must be set up according to your agreements with the Collaborators.
  • For each Collaborator, all the Splits which belong to them must be set up

How to proceed with payments to my Collaborators?

SPLIT provides you with the amounts due to your Collaborators and a detailed report to explain each amount. But you will still have to manage the payments to your Collaborators as you normally would.

How can my Collaborators access their reports?

Collaborators cannot retrieve reports directly from SPLIT. The reports must be sent to them.

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