Payouts
ONCE pays your streaming royalties to you automatically. The whole journey:
- Your music earns royalties on streaming platforms. Earnings appear on the Payouts page as stores report them.
- Once your first earnings post, payout setup unlocks. Complete the form (tax info and payment method) through Tipalti, our payment partner.
- Payouts go out automatically every quarter for balances of $20 or more. There is no withdraw button and nothing to request.
ONCE takes 0% of your royalties. Every royalty payment that reaches ONCE is passed through to you. The distribution pipeline partner that delivers your releases and collects the money deducts 6–8% before it reaches ONCE, so payouts work out to roughly 92–94% of what the stores paid.
Open the Payouts page from your Releases area, from My Account → View Payouts, or directly at beta.once.app/releases/payouts.
Step 1: Earn royalties
Stores report earnings to ONCE in periodic statements. The Payouts page shows your Last Statement (total and date), Lifetime Revenue, and Release earnings per release, expandable down to individual statements and line items (store, country, track, amount).
Statements take time to flow through. Most platforms report on a one-to-three-month delay, so it is normal for a release to be live for a while before its first statement appears.
Step 2: Set up your payout method
Setup runs through Tipalti, which securely collects your tax information and pays you.
Setup unlocks with your first earnings. Until then the Payout Method card reads “Setup unlocks with your first earnings” and there is nothing to do. Once it is available:
- Click Start Payout Setup.
- Click Open payout form. The Tipalti form opens in a new tab, which works on every device including phones. On desktop you can also fill in the same form embedded on the page.
- Complete your details, tax information, and payment method, then submit.
- Back in ONCE, click I completed the payout form. Check status re-checks with Tipalti any time.
The card then shows Payout method on file. If your bank or tax details change later, start a thread in #help-needed in the ONCE Discord.
If you have earned royalties but not finished setup, ONCE sends an occasional reminder email (never more than once a month). These are App Alert emails, controllable in email preferences.
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not started | You have not opened the form | Click Start Payout Setup once unlocked |
| In progress | Started but not complete | Finish and submit the form |
| Action required | Tipalti needs something, usually corrected or additional tax details | Read the reason on the card and follow it; ask ONCE Support or the Discord if stuck |
| Ready for payout / Active | All set | Nothing; payouts are automatic |
Step 3: Get paid
Once your status is Ready for payout or Active:
- Payouts run quarterly.
- Your balance must be $20 or more to be included. Smaller balances roll over and are never lost; they wait for the first quarter where your total crosses $20.
- Payments go through Tipalti to the method you chose. Delivery time after sending depends on your payment method and bank. If a payment shows as sent but has not arrived well past the expected window, ask the team in the Discord with the statement reference.
Your balance, explained
The Payouts page splits earnings into three buckets:
- Pending payment setup: reported while your setup was incomplete. Safe; it moves to “Owed now” as soon as setup completes.
- Owed now: waiting for the next quarterly run.
- Sent for payout: already paid to your payment method.
Every statement also moves through four stages, shown with dates on the page: Earned (streams happened) → Reported (the statement reached ONCE) → Payable (approved for the next run) → Paid (sent). Expand any release under Release earnings to see each statement’s timeline.
Payment history lists every statement sent for payout with the sent date, statement reference, release, and amount.
Release-level notices
Some releases show a notice on their row saying the release will not be paid out automatically. That release’s earnings need manual handling: start a thread in #help-needed in the ONCE Discord and they will process it.
Payouts vs. royalty splits
Payouts are how you get paid for your earnings. Royalty Splits define how a release’s earnings are shared with collaborators; each recipient is paid through their own payout setup.