You can organize the series by toggling the hashtag below: #Royalty Training Series
I will plan to publish the series in small increments once a week on Saturday morning 8.00 a.m. sharp
 

Umalgroth the Grand Corrupter

Yet beyond and crueler than even Spottifar loomed another name, spoken only in dread: Umalgroth the Grand Corrupter, Lord of the Great Catalogues, Master of the High Merchants, Keeper of the Gate of Legislative Shadows.

Where Spottifar withheld, Umalgroth distorted. Where Spottifar demanded 1,000 streams before paying a single Cindrel, Umalgroth moved in the unseen chambers of distant kingdoms, bending laws so that only the great and gilded would thrive.

He liked to laugh and jibe around his long table of dark lords that those who could not achieve 1,000 streams were ghosts to him: nothing—babbling murmurs—mere Merchants of Garbage.

It was now that the Withholder and his black dragon, AIsop, peppered the marketplace with fire, noise, and clutter until much of his dark crypt bent beneath mountains of trivial, soulless music and trinkets of power.

Sir Royal T’s Hermitage

It was into this realm that Saurat, lone maker of both lyric and song, would need to venture first with much trepidation. His song’s essence, forged in the quiet hours of Muscala’s hills, drifted through the fetid, dark stream of Spottifar’s vast Antechamber and now glimmered faintly as it entered the grim dominion of Spottifar’s servers.

Sir Royal T warned Saurat well:

“Spottifar cares not for the heart of your craft,

only the number of ears that brush upon it.

And fewer than a thousand—

he counts as none.”

Still, they agreed Saurat would need to press onward. He had earned twenty-five streams from within the dark woods of Spottifar— each a small candlelight in a valley full of wolves. And somewhere, hidden among the hills of the Spirelands, the Cindrels generated by those streams were waiting to be tallied and they would attempt to acquire what was rightfully earned.

The Song Guardians of the Realm

As Chapter One closes, several figures emerge from the edges of Sir Royal T’s copper-lined study. 

The first is cloaked in burnt-umber cloth and carrying a ledger shaped like a rune-etched shield. He bows to Saurat with reverence and quiet urgency.

His name is Caligo Thornscribe.

Apprentice to Sir Royal T and sworn seeker of artist Cindrels within the Muscala Realms, which include Spottifar. He is also from the lineage of the house of SeedBearers and lifts from the hills near its vast Keep.  Caligo is a curious mix of youthful hope and scholarly hunger, destined to walk beside Saurat into the darkest cracks of the Spirelands.

Next to him emerges a noble born named Celladonna from the house of scholarly composers. Her guild goes by the name PROmetheus. She collects on behalf of songwriters and is considered one of the most adept at collecting performance royalties in the realm. She is agile and swift; her arrows fly straight and true. 

Finally, Maelor the Lumenclast steps from the shadow like a lantern of light. He will collect all composer Mechanical Royalties due. His majesty and grace do not hide his cold edged steely resolve to protect Saurat and all songs to come.

All their fates will soon twist like a dying branch.

footnote: ( A long one but will help to use as a reference as story proceeds onward ; )

You can organize the series by toggling the hashtag below: #Royalty Training Series
I will plan to publish the series in small increments once a week on Saturday morning 8.00 a.m. sharp
Chapter Key for the Apprentice (a long one)

• Umalgroth the Grand Corrupter, Lord of the Great Catalogues = Music Corporate Lobbyist; The Record Label CEO. My example uses UMG.
• Spottifar = aligns to the Digital Service Provider (DSP). My story uses the Spotify CEO  
• Artist = the DIY musician is often both the recording artist and the composer. Recording Artist in this story will align to Saurat
• Composer/Songwriter = the DIY musician is often both the recording artist and the composer. Composer in this story will align to Saurat
• Caligo Thornscribe of House SeedBearer aligns to interactive streaming royalties collected by distributors such as CDBaby
• Celladonna of guild  PROmetheus" aligns to Performing Rights Organization such as BMI, ASCAP or SESAC
• Maelor the Lumenclast aligns to the  MLC: Mechanical Licensing Collective
• Final Notes for the Apprentice:
  • Note 1:  The Do-it-Yourself musician does not typically use Record Labels to finance, produce and advertise their music. However, the power of the Record Label as a lobbyist driving policy within the Music Industry is huge. Believe me when I tell you that they do not have the DIY artist best interest in mind. They are about big profit. They will scour streaming earnings they can scrape from 90% of music creators and give the meager earnings to themselves and/or their top tier artists within their catalogue (top 10%). This is how it has always worked, teetered with change possibility in the early 10's and then collapsed under corporate control/power as we entered the 20s and beyond.
  • Note 2: An artist royalty—also called a master royalty or sound recording royalty—is the money paid to the recording artist (and label) when their recorded track is played on a streaming service. It’s payment for the use of the recording itself, not the underlying song.
  • Note 3: A mechanical royalty is the money paid to the songwriter whenever their song is reproduced—on streaming services, that means each time the song is streamed and a digital copy is made on the platform’s servers. In short, it’s payment for the use of the composition, not the recording.
  • Note 4: A performance royalty is money paid to the songwriter when their song is publicly played—on streaming services, that means each time a song is streamed for listeners. It’s payment for the song being performed publicly, even though it’s happening online.