5 Common Challenges in Royalty Reporting and How to Overcome Them

In the fast-paced world of TV and Film, royalty reporting can quickly become a time-consuming, error-prone process. With increasing complexities in contracts, multiple revenue streams, and evolving compliance demands, many media companies find themselves bogged down by legacy systems and manual processes. At Creative Total Media, we understand these pain points and we’re here to help you overcome them.

1. Complex Royalty Calculations

The challenge:
Royalty agreements in the media industry often include a mix of commission rates, minimum guarantees, recoupments, and advances. These calculations must be precise, consistent, and traceable leaving no room for human error.

The solution:
With Just-ROYALTIES, our royalty reporting solution, you can automate the entire royalty calculation process. Once your contract terms are configured, the system handles even the most intricate calculations, ensuring accuracy and reducing the risk of errors or disputes.

2. Disparate and Unstructured Data Sources

The challenge:
TV and film companies often deal with multiple data sources: sales platforms, distribution reports, contracts, and more. Manually consolidating these into one cohesive financial picture is time-consuming and error-prone.

The solution:
Just-ROYALTIES centralises your data, bringing together information from various sources into one secure, unified Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform. This streamlines your reconciliation process and enables real-time reporting.

3. Time-Consuming Statement Generation

The challenge:
Manually preparing, checking, and distributing royalty statements to licensors or rights holders can be inefficient and vulnerable to mistakes.

The solution:
Just-ROYALTIES lets you calculate, generate, and distribute royalty statements with just a few clicks. Built-in workflows route statements for approval before they’re emailed, and financial entries are automatically posted giving you instant visibility of your royalty commitments within your finance system.

4. Navigating Global Regulatory Compliance

The challenge:
Each region comes with its own set of rules around royalty reporting, tax treatment, and payment timelines. Failing to comply can result in fines or damaged relationships.

The solution:
Our solution is designed with global compliance in mind. Just-ROYALTIES helps you meet local tax and regulatory requirements effortlessly, ensuring your royalty reporting remains accurate and fully compliant across borders.

5. Difficulties with Audits and Dispute Resolution

The challenge:
Without a centralised system and audit-ready documentation, responding to audits or addressing disputes becomes time-consuming and stressful.

The solution:
Just-ROYALTIES keeps a detailed, transparent record of every transaction. Auditors can easily verify calculations and payments, and you’ll have real-time visibility into the profitability and cash flow of each title or your entire portfolio.

Summary

Royalty reporting doesn’t need to be complicated. With Just-ROYALTIES from Creative Total Media, media finance teams can gain control over their data, automate tedious processes, and reduce the risk of error while staying compliant and audit-ready.

Ready to Simplify Your Royalty Reporting?

At Creative Total Media, we empower TV and Film companies to focus on what they do best creating exceptional content while we take care of the financial details. Whether you’re managing one title or a global catalogue, Just-ROYALTIES is built to streamline your royalty reporting process from end to end.

Get in touch today to book a demo or find out more about Just-ROYALTIES.

‍