Royalty calculations aren't always straightforward, and when multiple parties can claim partial ownership over a specific property, it becomes even more complex. Some common examples we see:
A children's book has both an author and an illustrator
An audiobook has an author, but also the vocal narrator
A T-shirt with text and picture of a licensed character contains property from both the author and the illustrator
Now, Brainbase offers the ability to add Participants (property sub-owners) when creating a new contract, allowing them to earn a set percentage of the specified royalties. The revenue split within a sales report is later visible to the licensor (and agents with applicable permissions) under the 'Sales Report Detail' view, as seen below.
Adding Participants to a Contract
Revenue Participants can be specified in the 'Add Contract' flow under the 'Parties' section. For a full guide on adding a contract, click here.
To start, click 'Add Parties' to edit this section. Enter the licensee and any agencies that'll be involved, and then click on 'Add Participant' to specify the other property owner(s). Note that the Participant can be any company in Brainbase that's associated with this user's company. The main property owner is also a Participant that will be receiving a share of the revenue, so there's no need to add the owner separately under the Participants block.
In the example below, we added the licensor company 'Sarah's Illustrations' as a Participant. Click 'Save' to proceed to the next section.
Splitting the Royalties
The 'Revenue Sharing' field will populate as soon as you've added a Revenue Participant. Click on 'Contract Terms' to start adding the information to the required fields (Contract Name, Start Date, etc.) before scrolling down to the 'Revenue Sharing' header. Here you can specify the percentage of royalties that each Participant should receive.
In the image below, we specified that Starship Brands, Inc. should receive a 66.67% share of the royalties, whereas Sarah's Illustrations is entitled to 33.33%. Note that the total percentages must add up to 100%.
Once you're done, click 'Save' at the bottom of the section to continue. After all of the pertinent fields have been filled, click 'Add Contract' in the top-right corner.
Now that the contract has successfully been created, you can see the 'Revenue Sharing' section on the 'Contract Details' page:
Revenue Splitting for Representation Contracts
Representation contracts already specify the agency's revenue share, so in cases where an agency is involved in a licensing contract, the rate is automatically transferred and split accordingly.
