Polish radio royalties for a master recording depend on a repertoire claim, not merely on getting the track onto streaming services. ZPAV, Poland’s recording industry body, says broadcaster reports and the producer’s own repertoire declaration form the basis for calculating recording-owner payments. An independent artist who financed and owns the master should ask a direct question: does ZPAV know that this recording belongs to me? ZPAV’s producer guide makes that distinction explicit.
The word producer needs care here. In ZPAV’s usage it means the person or company responsible for making and owning the recording, which can be a self-releasing artist. It does not automatically mean the person who programmed the beat. Document who paid for the session and what each agreement says about master ownership before submitting a claim.
The royalty a streaming statement cannot show
ZPAV describes a recording producer’s remuneration for broadcast, public playback and retransmission of commercially released recordings. Those uses sit alongside, but are separate from, the recording revenue a distributor reports from on-demand services. A Polish radio spin may therefore have a collective-rights trail that is absent from a Spotify statement. The rights categories in ZPAV’s guide are the starting point, not a promise of a fixed payment per spin.
The claim is recording-specific. ZPAV says the owner should submit details of recordings they produced and retained, recordings they acquired outright, and recordings for which they acquired particular remuneration rights. That last category matters when a label deal separates distribution from ownership. A delivery agreement alone cannot establish which party may collect the broadcast-related master royalty.
How the master owner makes the claim
ZPAV’s myZPAV system accepts repertoire directly from authorised users, or ZPAV can import an Excel sheet in its required format. The body says repertoire data must be accompanied by a statement confirming rights ownership. Its myZPAV instructions also let authorised users inspect usage and settlement information after registration.
Make a working register for every Polish-market recording: title, main artist, International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), release date, master owner, ownership start date and the contract or assignment supporting that claim. ZPAV explains that an ISRC identifies a recording through its life, but its separate repertoire process establishes the claimant’s rights. Its ISRC guidance describes identification; myZPAV describes the ownership declaration.
For a catalogue acquisition, check whether the seller previously claimed the same recording and the effective date of the transfer. For a licensed recording, read the contract before claiming: permission to distribute is not necessarily a transfer of the broadcast remuneration right. Those checks are editorial advice derived from ZPAV’s distinction between full ownership and narrower acquired rights.
Membership is not the same as repertoire registration
ZPAV says a producer need not be a member to be eligible for royalties administered through a collecting organisation, although it recommends entrusting rights for collective management. That is a useful distinction for a small label deciding where to start. The actionable step is to contact ZPAV for the relevant forms, establish the appropriate mandate or claim route, and submit the recording-level ownership evidence. ZPAV lists [email protected] for forms and access questions.
Do not collapse the other rights into this one claim. ZAiKS handles the musical work, meaning the composition and lyrics; its co-write registration rules can require a separate filing path. A performer may also have a distinct neighbouring-rights claim: STOART lets unaffiliated performers check for collected royalties. One self-releasing artist can occupy all three roles, but each role needs its own evidence.
For a label distributing across Europe, the operational lesson extends beyond Poland. Keep the master owner, performer credits and composition splits in separate fields, then compare each society’s registration against the same source contract. Our Dutch radio royalties guide shows a similar gap between a distributor’s ISRC and a local collecting claim. Accurate delivery metadata is the beginning of royalty control; it is not the completed claim.
