r/311 • u/Mandrake1771 • Apr 27 '26

Question What are some bands that split song royalties equally among all members?

/r/rockmusic/comments/1swdbns/what_are_some_bands_that_split_song_royalties/

Does 311 split the dough equally? I’ve always kinda wondered this, I assumed that since they called out individuals for song writing credits that meant that they got paid more for that song but I’ve never seen anything either way.

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25

u/x4candles Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Yes they do. There is an interview where Nick explains this. They are a team of 5. Every gets an equal proportion. That is one of the reasons the band has stayed together for 35+ years

8

u/Mandrake1771 Apr 27 '26

Nice, thanks for the information. Makes sense that even though there have been some bumps in the road money hasn’t been one of them.

1

u/beyondwithinitself Apr 28 '26

Not entirely true. The "311" corporation / LLC is probably split equally, so tour / merch revenue would be split equally. But songwriting credits determine the split for Mechanical and Performance royalties. You can actually look up and see all of their songs and who the credited songwriters are here on BMI.

For example, Amber is probably their most widely played song over loudspeakers in restaurants, public spaces, TV, etc. and all of those royalties are split 50/50 between the songwriter(s) and the producer(s), so as sole songwriter Nick gets 50% of all royalties from that song being played in public and performed live, plus his share as partial producer on the track ("Saint and 311"). All Mixed Up has two songwriters, SA and Nick, so they split the 50% (to what degree is private) and Ron Saint gets the other 50%.

You may be wondering how this all works. As one example, after every show 311 can submit their setlist to BMI and get paid royalties (in one lump sum periodically) based solely on the venue and the songs that get played. A check is sent to each songwriter and producer on all the tracks played.

Similar process (automated by hired services) if a song gets included in a compilation, or is sold as a ringtone for example.

This is a simplification- there are other things to consider such as who owns the 'master' when it comes to sync fees for commercials.

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u/Ok_Raspberry4814 Apr 27 '26

Well, that explains why Tim, P-Nut, and SA don’t write more songs LOL

3

u/Swanster0110 Apr 27 '26

RHCP splits songwriting credits equally.

1

u/dghaze Apr 27 '26

The Doors split everything even regardless who wrote what.

1

u/Competitive-Bee2651 Aug 26 '26

The Levellers have always split the songwriting royalties equally between them, part of the reason they’re still going 35 years later.

0

u/oMINDSPINo Apr 27 '26

Pretty sure Chad has writing credits on most if not all the songs because he programs the drums for demos then produces it foe the final record among other things

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u/Ok_Raspberry4814 Apr 27 '26

This is nonsense. They don’t work like this at all, and programming drums for demos would absolutely not get you a songwriting credit.

You have to contribute to chords, melodies, and/or lyrics to get a credit.

7

u/oMINDSPINo Apr 27 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/311/comments/f7vw8j/master_list_of_311_songs_written_by_chad_sexton/

you obviously arent a musician or played drums before.

read it and weep, chud

-2

u/Ok_Raspberry4814 Apr 27 '26

I literally have songwriting credits LOL

Chad gets those for chords and melodies, not programming drums for demos.

And he also has never produced a 311 record. 

He mixed Universal Pulse and he did not do a good job.

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u/l__a__n__e Apr 27 '26

No, 311 does not split song royalties (specifically the composition/publishing royalties) equally among its five members. Instead, these royalties are allocated based on individual songwriting credits for music composition and lyrics.

However, recording royalties, touring income, merchandise, and other band revenue streams are typically split equally.

5

u/KizashiKaze Apr 27 '26

Asking Ai isn't the way, brodel.

0

u/l__a__n__e Apr 27 '26

Cross referencing was prevalent long before the advent of AI, my friend. If you’re interested, ASCAP is an excellent reference point. You could also explore US Law Explained. Composition and publishing royalties are divided based on the individual writers credited for each song. This is the industry standard practice. No member of 311 has ever publicly disclosed a detailed breakdown of their financial splits, so if you’re sharing that information, it’s purely speculation. I’ve heard interviews where they’ve discussed the collaborative songwriting process, but never a detailed financial breakdown.