Catalog

Shareholders in Velveteen

Updated June 11, 2026

The short answer

A shareholder in Velveteen holds a percentage of the master royalties earned by a specific track. Shareholders are added per track using an email address and a share percentage. All shares must sum to 100% or less. Once a track is attached to a non-draft release, the shareholder list locks and changes require approval from all shareholders.

Shareholder splits are how Velveteen tracks who gets paid when a track earns royalties. This section covers the shareholder entity itself, how percentages are calculated and enforced, what locking means, and how to propose changes once a track is in distribution.

What this section covers

What is a shareholder?

The entity itself: email, share percentage, and optional link to a Velveteen account.

How splits work

How percentages are stored, the sum-to-100 rule, and how royalties flow to each shareholder.

Locked shareholders

When shareholders become read-only and what triggers the lock.

Proposing split changes

The change-request approval process when splits need to change on a locked track.

Shareholders and royalties

Shareholders are the royalty layer in Velveteen. Credits (contributors, performers, publishers) handle attribution and metadata. Shareholders handle the money. A track can have credits without shareholders (if no splits are configured) and shareholders without credits (if the split holder is not named in the track metadata). The two systems are independent.

Frequently asked questions

Are shareholders the same as contributors?+

No. A shareholder holds a royalty split percentage and receives income from streams. A contributor is a credits entity (producer, mixing engineer, etc.) who appears in track metadata but may or may not receive royalties through Velveteen. Someone can be both a shareholder and a contributor on the same track.

Do shareholders need a Velveteen account?+

No. Shareholders are identified by email address. Velveteen notifies them when added. If they have a Velveteen account with that email, royalties are routed to it. If not, the link is established when they sign up.

What happens if shares do not add up to 100%?+

Velveteen allows shares to total less than 100%. The unallocated percentage is not paid out to any shareholder. Make sure your total intended splits are reflected correctly before submitting a release.

Can I add myself as a shareholder?+

Yes. You can add any email as a shareholder, including your own. Most tracks with a single owner have one shareholder row at 100%.