Publishers
Details about affiliation, the repertoire payment, and other royalties and services for publishers.

FAQs for Publisher Affiliates

For information about the publisher repertoire payment, please click here.

My publishing company recently acquired a publishing company that was one of your affiliates. How does this affect any royalties you were sending them?
Any royalties payable to the affiliate will be payable to their new owners. If you now own all of their titles, please be sure to include them on your works list.

If I affiliate, do my creators automatically become affiliates?
No. Your creators must affiliate on their own. Please direct them to our online registration tool.

Can you send royalties directly to my creators?
Access Copyright can send royalties directly to any creator who is one of our affiliates. If the creator is not an affiliate of Access Copyright, royalties we have collected for them will be distributed to you.

How can I encourage my creators to affiliate with Access Copyright?
We can give you information to provide to your creators which highlights the benefits of becoming an Access Copyright affiliate. Please contact us for more information.

What allocations are deducted from the licensing royalties Access Copyright collected? 
Access Copyright's Board of Directors has approved three allocations from the licensing royalties collected by Access Copyright:

  • An administrative holdback of 30% to cover Access Copyright's administrative and operational costs.
  • An allocation of 1.5% of copyright licensing royalties towards the Access Copyright Foundation (currently suspended).

Why is 15% of all licensing revenues directed to creator and publisher repertoire payments?
This allocation is made in recognition of the value that all our writer, visual artist and publisher affiliates bring to our licences and is distributed to them through Payback and the Publisher Repertoire Payment.

Why am I receiving a royalty payment for the first time?
You may be receiving a payment for the first time if the amounts owing reached the minimum payment of $25. This amount was set by Access Copyright's Board of Directors in order to reduce administrative costs. You may also be receiving a payment for the first time if we recently located you or received your tax-identifier number.

Do my royalties include GST or HST? 
The royalties you receive from Access Copyright do not include GST or HST. Access Copyright is exempt from paying GST or HST to creators under the Tax Act for Artists' Representatives (GST/HST) Regulations SOR/91-25. However, all royalties you receive from Access Copyright are considered taxable income. We will send you a T5 slip in February of each year. 

Why does my statement show tax being deducted? 
Some of the royalties we collect on your behalf come from other reproduction rights organizations (RROs) around the world and there may be a withholding tax at the source. Please contact affiliates@accesscopyright.ca for more information.

I receive my royalties from Access Copyright by cheque, but would rather receive them by direct deposit. How can I do this?
To sign up for direct deposit, please visit our website and download our direct deposit enrolment form.