Does a singer need to join IPRS?

Only if they also wrote the lyrics or the music. IPRS members are lyricists, composers and publishers. A singer's income from the recording comes through the master side.

Who registers a co-written song with IPRS?

Members register their own works, or works they are authorised to represent. If a lyricist and a composer wrote a song together, agree who notifies it, and make sure the shares in the notification match your split sheet.

Guides · Distribution and rights

Credits that get you paid

Who earns from a Punjabi song, and the credits, IPRS registrations and split sheets that make sure each of them is actually paid.

Deep Saab, founder · Reviewed by Deep Saab · Updated 24 October 2026 · 6 min read

Master vs composition

Every song is two pieces of property. The master is the recording: this vocal, this mix, this file. The composition is the song underneath it: the lyrics and the music, which anyone could record again. A cover is a new master of the same composition.

Each earns separately. Spotify describes recording royalties as the money owed to rights holders for recordings streamed, paid to artists through whoever delivered the music, usually a label or distributor. Publishing royalties are owed to the songwriters or owners of a composition, and Spotify pays them to publishers, collecting societies and mechanical agencies, depending on the territory. Two money trails, two sets of paperwork.

In India, IPRS administers rights in musical works and in the lyrics that go with them. It doesn't cover sound recordings. Those are licensed separately, by whoever owns them.

Who earns what

The usual roles on a Punjabi release
Role	What they own or contribute	How they get paid
Singer (the artist)	The performance on the master	From master income: through their deal with the label, or directly through the distributor if they own the master
Lyricist	The words, a literary work within the composition	Composition royalties, through IPRS and any publisher
Composer	The music of the composition	Composition royalties, by the same routes as the lyricist
Producer	The production of the master, and sometimes the music too	Whatever the producer agreement says: a fee, a share of master income, or both. A composer's share as well, if they wrote music
Label	Owns or licenses the master, and often acts as publisher	Master income from the stores, and publishing income where it holds publishing rights

Punjabi credits often list Singer, Lyrics and Music as separate lines, sometimes with Composition as a fourth. "Music" usually names the producer who built the track, and the melody may be someone else's. Whatever the poster says, the metadata should say what each person actually did.

One person can hold several roles. A singer who wrote the lyrics is also the lyricist and earns on both sides, but only if both roles are on record.

IPRS for lyricists and composers

The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) is a copyright society registered under the Copyright Act, 1957. Its members are authors, meaning lyricists and music composers, and publishers, meaning music labels, music publishers and film producers. It licenses people who use music and collects royalties on its members' behalf: for performing rights, which cover public performance, broadcast and communication to the public, and for mechanical rights, as members assign them.

IPRS also says it collects the authors' royalty share that the Copyright Act sets aside for lyricists and composers, even when the label or film producer isn't a member. That share comes from the 2012 amendments to the Act. IPRS's position is that only an author's legal heirs or a copyright society can collect it.

Who can join. A lyricist or composer with at least one released or published work. For non-film work, IPRS looks for an online presence: a release on YouTube, a release on streaming services through a distributor, or physical CD inlays. Its application form asks for at least two of these, with the members' committee able to review cases that don't meet that.

How to join. Applications are online only. You'll need a PAN card and address proof, a work notification for each song with proof of release, and a one-time fee, which IPRS lists as ₹1,200 for authors and composers at the time of writing. Once IPRS has your signed membership documents, it issues your IPI number.

Then register every song. IPRS is plain about it: unless members register their works, it can't efficiently collect or distribute royalties for them. A song you wrote but never notified is a song IPRS can't match to you. Keep your name, the titles and the co-writers exactly as they appear in the release metadata.

IPRS has reciprocal agreements with sister societies abroad. If you live in Brampton, Surrey or Southall and already belong to a society there, ask both before you join a second.

Credits in metadata

Platforms display credits from the metadata your distributor delivers. Spotify shows every credit it receives, from producers and engineers to songwriters and featured artists. A correction has to come from your label or distributor, and once Spotify has the update, credits usually appear within 7 days. Spotify asks for composers, lyricists and producers at both track and release level.

Apple uses Composer for the music and Lyrics for the words when you know who did which, and Songwriter when one person did both or the split isn't known. Don't send placeholders such as TBD. Leave the credit out until you have it.

Enter credits as people, not descriptions: a full, standard name in each field, with no role, date or instrument added to it. ISRC, Content ID and metadata, explained has the full pre-delivery checklist.

A featured artist needs the right role as well as the right spelling. Spotify puts a new song in Release Radar for followers of its main and featured artists, so a feature entered in the featured-artist field reaches both sets of followers. A feature typed into the title reaches nobody extra, and Spotify doesn't allow artist names in titles anyway.

YouTube is the other place credits live. Put the full credits in the description of the official video, written exactly as they are in the metadata. Titles, thumbnails and search for Punjabi songs covers the description.

Split agreements

A split agreement records who owns what share of a song. Write one for every song, before release, while everyone still agrees.

Two splits, not one. One for the master, one for the composition. A producer can hold a share of the master and none of the composition, or the reverse.
The song, identified. Title as released, and the ISRC once it has one.
Names as credited. The same spelling as the metadata and the IPRS work notification.
Percentages that add up to 100, on each side.
Who administers what. Which account receives the master income, and who notifies the work to IPRS.
Beats and samples. Any licence the song depends on, and whether it is exclusive.
Signatures and dates from everyone named.

Some distributors can pay master splits to collaborators automatically. That helps, but a payout setting isn't an agreement. Keep the signed sheet.

We check credits and licences four weeks before release, alongside the master and artwork. How we work shows where that sits in a campaign.

Questions

Does a singer need to join IPRS?: Only if they also wrote the lyrics or the music. IPRS members are lyricists, composers and publishers. A singer's income from the recording comes through the master side.
Who registers a co-written song with IPRS?: Members register their own works, or works they are authorised to represent. If a lyricist and a composer wrote a song together, agree who notifies it, and make sure the shares in the notification match your split sheet.

Sources

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