How do payments work on Stem?

Stem pays out earnings from both the sound recording (master royalties) and the composition (mechanical royalties on US digital downloads only).

To streamline collaborator/shareholder payments through Stem, use our Splits feature to add splits and shareholders to each track on a release. This creates a contract amongst shareholders (1 contract for the sound recording and 1 contract for the composition). Since Stem works on a consensus model, payments are made once all splits on a contract have been agreed upon by each shareholder. A contract with 100% consensus amongst shareholders is considered "finalized" and payable. You may read more about accepting splits here.

Finalized sound recording earnings are paid on the 15th of each month and composition royalties are paid on a quarterly basis as long as we have a valid mechanical license on file.

Contracts must be finalized for both the sound recording and composition splits in order for us to pay you.

Note: Prior to August 2020, your payments may appear in your bank statements from "Qwil Inc." After this date, they will appear in your bank statements from "Stem Disintermedia Inc."