In today’s media landscape, rights and royalties aren’t just a back-office function—they’re a direct driver of financial performance. They determine who gets paid, how revenue flows, and whether your content delivers long-term value.

But even for experienced CFOs and finance teams, the rights and royalties ecosystem can feel like walking through fog. Between ambiguous contract language, opaque royalty statements, complicated Guild agreements and inconsistent international rules, it’s easy to lose sight of where revenue is hiding and what your onward obligations are.

In a world where a single series might sell to endless global platforms, appear on multiple streaming tiers, and be monetised for far longer than was previously the case, clarity isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Why Rights and Royalties Feel So Complex

Despite being fundamental to the business, rights and royalties often become a pain point. Here’s why:

1. The Revenue Model has completely changed.

2. Shows Sell in More Places, More Ways

3. Contract Terms Have Got Much More Complex

4. There are more stakeholders than ever before

4. Antiquated Systems Make It Hard to See the Full Picture

The Hidden Cost: Time, Stress, Missed Revenue & Reputational Damage

Teams often spend hours:

• Deciphering royalty statements
• Trying to understand contract clauses
• Chasing partners for data
• Calculating residual and net participation obligations

Every hour spent untangling royalty matters is an hour not spent planning and growing the business.

Where Lockside Media Services Comes In

At Lockside Media Services, we bring clarity to the areas that typically cause the most confusion.
For more than a decade, we’ve supported production companies, distributors, and rights holders with practical, advice and solutions built for the realities of modern content finance. 

We don’t approach rights and royalties as a generic consultancy exercise—we understand the contracts, the workflows, staekholder expectations, and the reporting pressures inside media businesses.

Our work includes:

• Royalty and Residual processing
• Analysing historic royalties to identify missing income
• Strategic rights management and clearance advice

In short: we turn complexity into confidence.

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