Streaming royalties are payments made to rights holders when music is played on digital streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. These royalties are divided into two main types: mechanical royalties (paid to songwriters/publishers for reproduction rights) and performance royalties (paid for public performance). Streaming platforms typically pay fractions of a penny per stream, with rates varying between $0.003-$0.008 per stream¹. The distribution follows a pro-rata model based on total platform streams².