I remember registering with SAMRO while I was at varsity in 2008. I vaguely remember thinking that registration would be the only way to get a hold of my beloved royalties. I downloaded the forms and stumbled through filling them out before faxing them back to SAMRO. I think I should mention that I was living in Cape Town at the time. A few weeks after I submitted, I saved up some airtime to call SAMRO to ask them if they had received my papers. The agent told me that my forms had been received but one of the documents had been rejected. He looked through the error logs and the copy of my identification document wasnt clear and could therefore not be used. I was a little upset that they hadn't called me back to let me know, but this is how these application processes go.
Over the next few weeks I called in and faxed and called in and faxed until I finally got a clear ID document and my application could be processed. The person I called told me that I'm a prospective member. I had no freaking clue what this meant. Little did I know that I wouldn't truly become a SAMRO member until 7 or so years later. The guy advised that I get as much radio play as I can so I did just that. I sent the songs I did with Dmania to radio stations in Cape Town, but got nothing. In hindsight, my mixing was very average and my beats sounded weird. I really wasn't ready for radio yet.
It wasn't until I started working with Jlawless and PdotO that I started getting radio play. I had put in all kinds of work and I worked on the clarity and overall quality of my music. It must have been 2015 when I received a call from a man asking for my banking details because there was a SAMRO payment owed to me. I went straight to the bank to fetch proof and mailed it through to him. A few days later I received my first royalty payment. It was soooo small. Im sure it was enough for rent, but I'm just glad that I had turned into an active member. I remember Jlawless telling me about random payouts through the year that really supplemented his income and this motivated me to get my stuff active.
Since then I've been receiving payouts for all types of royalties from radio play to library music. The amounts are increasing and it really is a nice way to supplement my income. It won't ever be huge to begin with, but it can grow into something quite substantial over 2 years if you establish the channels and get as much music out there as possible. I've been bailed out financially a few times this year from royalties which should show you how vital of an income stream they have become to me.
My suggestion is to build up a sustainable way to earn royalties as this is probably the only way you'll earn passively through music. Royalties will probably never be the biggest amount you'll earn throughout the year, but it's vital if you're looking to do music full time and still manage to pay bills.
SB