Symphonic Brings Hundreds of Thousands of Songs to Roblox, With Royalties for Every Play

Hundreds of thousands of songs distributed by Symphonic will be available on Roblox, the online game platform, under a deal the two companies announced on Thursday, 12 November. Artists whose music is used on the platform will be paid royalties for all plays, according to Music Business Worldwide.

Symphonic is a distribution company, which means it delivers artists' recordings to streaming services and stores, usually for a fee or a share of earnings. The company describes itself as 100% independent, and it says it was founded in 2006 by former music producer Jorge Brea. Its headquarters are in Tampa, Florida, with offices in Brooklyn, Nashville, Bogotá and São Paulo.

Under the agreement, Symphonic will collect the royalties Roblox pays and send them to rightsholders. Royalties are payments owed each time a song is used, and rightsholders are the people and companies entitled to them. Symphonic will pass the money on in line with each artist's publishing contract, the agreement that sets out who receives what share of a song's writing income.

The music is meant for two parts of Roblox. Game makers, known on the platform as developers, can browse the Roblox Creator Store and hear a 15-second preview before they add a track to a game. The deal also covers Moments, a tab in the Roblox app that shows short gameplay clips and lets players jump straight into featured games.

The catalogue spans Latin, hip-hop, pop, rock and electronic music. It includes artists who are just starting out alongside established names.

For a working musician, the practical questions are which tracks are included and what their own contract says about the split. The deal puts a song in front of players who may never open a music app, and it pays on plays rather than on a fixed fee. Both points are the core of what the agreement sets out.