The 10% figure is real, but it describes one specific measure: women received 10% of Koda’s total royalty payouts in Denmark in 2023. It is not a global estimate, and it does not mean women made up 10% of royalty recipients. Other reports measure different countries, years, rights-holders and royalty categories—and report different shares.
Where does the 10% figure come from?
Koda, Denmark’s music rights collecting society, reported on 12 September 2024 that women received 10% of its total payouts in 2023. That is a share of money distributed by one organization in one country during one year. It does not describe every form of music income worldwide, or the entire music industry.
The denominator matters. In the same reporting, women were 20% of Koda members. Membership share and payout share are different measures: a person can be a member without receiving the same amount as another member, and a payout statistic measures money rather than the number of people paid.
Koda payouts varied by channel
Koda’s figures show why even a single society’s total can conceal differences among royalty sources:
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| Denmark, Koda; 2023 | Women’s share | What the figure measures |
|---|---|---|
| Total payouts | 10% | Share of all money Koda paid out |
| Music-streaming payouts | 9% | Share of streaming payout money |
| TV payouts | 5% | Share of TV payout money |
| Radio payouts | 17% | Share of radio payout money |
These are Koda’s reported 2023 figures, published in 2024. They are category-specific payout shares, not estimates for other countries or organizations.
How do other royalty statistics compare?
There is no single directly comparable figure across the studies below. They differ in geography, reporting period, rights-holder group, royalty channel and denominator. Read each number with its definition rather than treating the figures as a global ranking.
Netherlands: Buma/Stemra royalty dataset
A University of Groningen research summary, last modified 7 May 2026, reports that women received 7% of all royalties in the Buma/Stemra dataset analyzed. Researchers also found that women had an average of about 38 registered works, compared with 72 for men. After accounting for the number of registered works, women still earned about 19% less per work.
The registered-work difference accounts for an important part of the disparity in the dataset, but it does not explain all of it. The researchers suggest exposure and ownership may contribute; the available data did not measure those factors directly. The research portal lists the associated report as published in January 2026.
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Teosto’s 6 March 2026 update on 2025 distributions separates two populations and two collecting organizations:
| Organization and group | Distribution year | Women’s share of royalties | Women’s share of people in the group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teosto, music creators | 2025 | 15.4% | 21.0% |
| Gramex, performers and producers | 2025 | 22.2% | 25.3% |
Teosto also reported channel-level shares for women in 2025: 21.6% of radio royalties, 17.9% of live-music royalties and just over 10% of royalties from online digital channels. Those channel figures are not interchangeable with the overall creator or performer/producer figures.
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A separate barometer from Teosto and partner organizations reported 2024 distributions of 15.3% at Teosto and 21.4% at Gramex. Its survey was conducted in March 2025 and had 1,484 respondents. These are 2024 distribution figures; they should not be substituted for the later 2025 figures reported in Teosto’s 2026 update.
United Kingdom: people receiving royalties, not money paid
The UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee reported that women were 16.7% of songwriters and composers who received a royalty in 2020 for music streamed, downloaded, broadcast or performed. This counts royalty recipients; it does not measure women’s share of the royalty money. The committee also described women’s underrepresentation among songwriters and producers, alongside barriers including discrimination and harassment.
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Why are women paid a smaller share?
The Dutch analysis points to one measurable factor: women in that dataset had fewer registered works on average. But the remaining per-work difference shows that registered output alone does not account for the gap. The researchers identify exposure and ownership as possible contributors, while noting that their data did not directly test those explanations.
The UK committee’s findings locate the issue in a wider professional context, documenting underrepresentation among songwriters and producers as well as discrimination and harassment. Those findings are relevant to how opportunities and careers may be shaped, but the sources cited here do not establish a single cause—or quantify how much each barrier contributes to royalty differences across countries.
As Koda chairperson Loui Törnqvist put it: “We will never reach our goal unless we get the entire music scene to pull in the same direction”. In the UK parliamentary report, Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis similarly stressed the need to develop the pipeline across the industry: “We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed. This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.”
How should you read a claim about royalty inequality?
Before comparing percentages, identify what each one counts. A payout share, a share of members, a share of registered works and a share of people who received at least one royalty answer different questions.
- Country and organization: Check which collecting society or rights organization made the report.
- Year: Separate the year money was distributed from the date a report was published.
- Rights-holder group: Songwriters and composers, music creators, performers and producers are not the same population.
- Royalty channel: Total distributions and streaming, radio, TV, live or online-channel payouts can have different gender shares.
- Denominator: Confirm whether the percentage refers to money, members, works, credits or recipients.
The figures available here do not establish one harmonized global statistic or fully explain cross-country differences. The sound conclusion is narrower: the Danish 10% figure documents a gender gap in Koda’s 2023 payouts, while other country-specific datasets show different gaps under different measures.
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