Startup Idea: Artist Royalty Calculation Software for Digital Record Labels

Startup idea to develop a software that streamlines and automates royalty calculations for digital record labels. This solution would accurately track and manage artist payouts, taking into account variables like royalty percentages, payment history and cost deductions. The operator would simply input raw sales data and the software outputs precise, fair royalty amounts.

I own my own digital record label. I sell products via an aggregate distributor for digital download and streaming services such as iTunes, Beatport, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.

The most time-consuming and frustrating part of my job is calculating artist royalties once per quarter. Currently I use an Excel spreadsheet with formulas that I designed to determine quarterly payouts to artists, as the aggregate's reporting is not quite accurate. I download their .csv file and calculate and transfer data to my own spreadsheet to ensure royalty accuracy.

Programs like Quick Books are not quite good enough to handle royalties by artist, who I treat as independent contractors. If there was a program that I could set up artists, royalty percentages, payment history, etc. it would be extremely helpful. It would also be helpful to subtract costs of manufacturing each album such as mastering costs, to determine the final payout to the artist.

If it was inclusive enough and covered all bases regarding artist royalties, I would absolutely pay for that program.