Get paid what you’ve earned


Royalties when your content is used

Copibec is a non-profit social enterprise that collects and distributes the royalties paid when your published content is used by others.

Copibec negotiates royalty payments to make sure authors and publishers whose content has been used can receive compensation from users. To redistribute those royalties as fairly as possible, we partner with various user groups to collect data, track reproduction samples and compile other copy logs that identify the content used.

If you’re a copyright owner, you earn royalties whenever Copibec is informed that one of your works has been used. A cheque is issued to you as soon as your account balance exceeds $100.

The default royalty allocation between the author and publisher of a publication is 50/50. Copibec retains 15% of the royalties to cover its administrative costs.

When your content is used outside Canada

We have signed reciprocal agreements with 33 foreign reproduction rights organizations. If your publications are used in their territory, the relevant organizations forward the royalties to Copibec. That way, you can be sure you’ll receive royalties when your works are used outside Canada.

Lump-sum payments

In addition to payments covering works used, Copibec pays out various other lump sum amounts. Copibec processes about 210 000 copy log entries annually but it’s not always possible to track how every excerpt has been used. Thanks to the lump-sum (repertoire) payments we make, you can receive royalties for your work even if each use has not necessarily been reported.

Lump-sum payments are distributed every two years. The terms and conditions for those various payments are determined by Copibec’s Board of Directors.

Keep the information in your account up to date so you’ll be sure to be informed about upcoming distributions and registration deadlines.