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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe 10% figure refers to payouts by Koda, Denmark’s music-rights collecting society, in 2023. It is not a global estimate, and it does not mean women made up 10% of royalty recipients. Other country-level studies report different shares because they cover different years, rights-holders, royalty channels and measures.
Where does the 10% figure come from?
Koda’s report, published on 12 September 2024, found that women received 10% of its total payouts in 2023. The figures below show why that statistic should be read alongside its source, year and denominator rather than treated as a universal rate.
| Country and source | Reporting period | What was measured | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark — Koda | 2023 payouts; report published 12 September 2024 | Share of total payouts received by women | 10%; women were 20% of Koda members |
| Denmark — Koda | 2023 payouts | Women’s share of payouts by channel | Streaming: 9%; TV: 5%; radio: 17% |
| Netherlands — University of Groningen researchers working with Buma/Stemra | Royalty dataset analyzed in the report; research portal lists the associated report as published in January 2026 | Women’s share of royalties in the analyzed dataset | 7% |
| Netherlands — University of Groningen researchers | 2026 report | Average registered works and earnings per work, comparing women and men | About 38 registered works for women and 72 for men on average; after controlling for registered works, women earned about 19% less per work |
| Finland — Teosto | 2025 distributions; update published 6 March 2026 | Women’s share of royalties paid to music creators | 15.4% |
| Finland — Gramex | 2025 distributions; update published 6 March 2026 | Women’s share of performer and producer royalties | 22.2%; by channel, 21.6% of radio royalties, 17.9% of live-music royalties and just over 10% of online digital-channel royalties |
| Finland — Teosto and partner organizations | 2024 distributions; barometer published in 2025 | Women’s share of distributions | Teosto: 15.3%; Gramex: 21.4%. The barometer survey, carried out in March 2025, had 1,484 respondents; that respondent count is not the denominator for the royalty shares. |
| United Kingdom — House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee | 2020 royalty-recipient data, cited in the committee’s report | Share of songwriters and composers who received a royalty for music streamed, downloaded, broadcast or performed | 16.7% of recipients were women; this is a share of people, not money |
The Netherlands figures describe the dataset analyzed by the researchers, not a harmonized estimate for every Dutch royalty payment. The Finnish 2024 barometer and 2025 distribution update cover different years, so their figures should not be substituted for one another.
Why a payout share is not the same as a recipient share
A payout share asks how much of the money distributed went to a group. A recipient share asks how many people in a defined group received at least one payment. Membership, registered works, credits and royalty payments are also different denominators. A group can represent a larger share of members than of money paid, for example, without those two statistics being contradictory.
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This distinction matters when comparing Koda’s payout figures with the UK parliamentary statistic: the latter counts royalty-recipient songwriters and composers. It does not measure how the money was divided among them. Nor does Koda’s share of members tell us how many members received a payment in that year.
Why might women receive a smaller share?
Differences in registered output
In the Dutch analysis, women had fewer registered works on average than men. The researchers found that registered-work counts accounted for a substantial part of the earnings gap, but did not explain all of it: a difference per work remained after they controlled for the number of registered works.
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Exposure and ownership are possible factors, not established causes
The researchers identified exposure and ownership as factors that may contribute to the remaining difference. The data described in the report did not measure those factors directly, so it cannot establish how much either one caused the gap. Royalty outcomes can reflect who participates in creating and performing music, what gets used, and how rights and revenue are allocated; the figures alone do not isolate those mechanisms.
Industry barriers
The UK Women and Equalities Committee also described women’s underrepresentation among songwriters and producers and continuing barriers, including discrimination and harassment. That evidence provides context for inequality in music work, but it does not by itself explain a particular collecting society’s payout distribution.
How to compare royalty-inequality figures responsibly
Before treating two percentages as evidence of a trend or ranking, check that they cover the same:
- Geography and organization: a national collecting society’s figures are not automatically representative of another country or the global industry.
- Distribution year: distinguish the year payments were made from the year a report or survey was published.
- Rights-holder group: songwriter and creator royalties are not interchangeable with performer or producer royalties.
- Royalty channel: streaming, radio, television, live music and total payouts can produce different shares.
- Denominator: money paid, members, royalty recipients, registered works and credits describe different things.
The cited figures use different populations and definitions, so they cannot be pooled into one reliable global percentage. They establish substantial disparities in several reported settings, but do not provide a single like-for-like measure of women’s share of music royalties worldwide.
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