You signed the deal. Enter it below and see what the label really netted off your music, after the advance and recoupment, versus what landed in your pocket. The math the contract buries.
Recoupable costs = recording, videos, and marketing the label paid for, then billed back to your royalty account. Not sure what your music grossed? Run the streaming calculator first →
That skim at the door is the whole industry game, and it is exactly why we give everything away. One email opens the vault below. No signup, instant access, yours to keep.
Recoupment is the mechanism that keeps most signed artists broke. The label fronts your advance and pays for recording, videos, and marketing, then charges every dollar of it back to your royalty account. You do not see a cent of royalties until those costs are fully repaid out of your share, while the label keeps 100% of the revenue your music earns the entire time. Because your share is only 15 to 20% on a major deal, the debt clears slowly, and most artists never clear it at all.
The cruel part: it is recoupable, not repayable. If your music never earns enough to cover the balance, you keep the advance and owe nothing more, but you also never see another dollar. The label still collected everything your music made. That gap, what your music generated versus what reached you, is what this tool puts a number on.
Verified July 2026. Sources: Ari's Take, Rolling Stone, Music Business Worldwide.
Your royalty rate is the single biggest lever on how much you keep. A standard major-label recording contract pays the artist roughly 18% of revenue before recoupment. A 360 deal drops that to around 15% and also takes a cut of your touring and merch. Indie labels commonly split 50%. A distribution deal leaves you 80 to 100% because you fund the recording and marketing yourself.
Royalty ranges verified July 2026. Sources: Ari's Take, MBW, Rolling Stone.
To recoup, your royalty share alone has to repay the advance plus every recoupable cost. At an 18% rate, a $200,000 recoupable balance means your music has to generate over $1.1 million in revenue before your first post-advance royalty check. Here is the revenue you need to break even at a few common balances.