Masterchannel lets artists hear a free, full-length mastering preview against their original mix and charges only if they download the master. That makes the download a clear purchase decision. Revenue from radio use follows a different path: the rights holder must identify eligible airplay and file the appropriate claim.
Keep the purchase decision tied to the file
Masterchannel mastering sits inside the InterSpace Distribution and ToneGrid release dashboards. The workflow gives an artist a chance to compare two versions before committing to the paid download. The practical question at that point is narrow: does the mastered version serve the release well enough to justify buying it?
Answer that question with the recording in front of you. Listen to the full preview beside the original mix, decide which version you want to release, and record the cost of the downloaded master as a release expense if you buy it. The preview changes when payment is due; it does not change who owns a royalty claim or establish that any future play will earn one.
A dashboard can make several release tasks feel like one process. The underlying decisions remain separate. Buying a finished audio file concerns the recording you deliver. Collecting money from its later use concerns the applicable right, the use that occurred and the party entitled to claim. Treating the first decision as proof that the second is handled can leave a receivable unattended.
Radio reach and radio income need different records
Online radio can carry independent hip-hop beyond an artist’s local market, while audience size and promotional results vary. That makes a radio placement useful to assess as promotion, but reach alone does not tell a label what it can collect. A listener outside the local market is an audience outcome. A royalty claim requires a qualifying use and a claimant with the relevant rights.
Keep the evidence for those questions apart. For promotion, note the station and the response you can actually observe. For royalties, retain the play information needed to check whether the use is eligible under the collection system in question. A station mention or an estimate of audience reach cannot substitute for that check. The decision to seek more radio exposure and the decision to file a royalty claim should each rest on its own record.
That distinction matters especially when a release moves through more than one service. Canada’s Re:Sound claims require rights holders to check eligible airplay and keep that income separate from distributor income. Money arriving through a distributor therefore does not, by itself, close the radio-royalty question. An independent label reviewing a release should ask which uses generated distributor receipts and which uses still require a separate claim.
Put both Canadian claim clocks on the calendar
For Canada Re:Sound royalties, master owners have until September 1 of the fourth year after a royalty year to file; performers have until the sixth year. Those are two deadlines for different interests in a recording. A label that controls the master should not assume its filing also completes a performer’s claim. Likewise, a performer’s longer window does not extend the master owner’s deadline.
The useful unit of work is the recording and its royalty year. For each one, identify who can act for the master owner and who can act for the performers, then check eligible airplay before the relevant deadlines. This turns a vague instruction to “collect radio money” into two named responsibilities with dates attached.
- Before buying a master: compare the full-length preview with the original mix and decide whether to pay for the download.
- After radio use: keep the play details and check eligibility, rather than treating wider online reach as a royalty figure.
- For Canadian claims: calendar the fourth-year master-owner deadline and sixth-year performer deadline separately for each royalty year.
Assign the claim before the deadline approaches
For an independent label, the actionable change is to give each recording two files of evidence: one for the release purchase and one for later use. The first records the choice to download and pay for a master. The second connects airplay to the people or entities that can claim it. An artist handling both roles can still make the distinction explicit; a label working with performers needs each role assigned to the right claimant.
Review distributor receipts alongside, rather than in place of, the radio record. Re:Sound’s separate master-owner and performer filing clocks give that review a concrete schedule. For a royalty year, mark September 1 in the fourth following year for the master owner, then track the performer’s sixth-year window. The dashboard purchase may happen once. The claim work begins when eligible use needs to be identified and continues until each entitled party has filed.
