This article explains the differences between performance metrics and financial reporting within the FUGA Platform. You will learn how to navigate the Analytics Dashboard and Accounting Dashboard, identify why stream counts may differ between these views, and understand the reporting cycles of various Digital Service Providers (DSPs).
Understanding the Dashboards
The FUGA Platform provides two distinct areas for viewing content data, each serving a specific purpose for labels and distributors.
In the Analytics Dashboard, you can access a detailed overview of how content is performing. This data can be filtered by artist, label, territory, service, and time period. The Analytics Dashboard allows for the tracking of stream sources, territories, skip rates, and demographic information. This view is designed for performance insight and audience understanding.
The Accounting Dashboard is located within the Royalties section. It provides a clear picture of revenues derived from processed royalty statements. In the revenue section of this dashboard, you can view financial data with adjustable filters similar to the Analytics Dashboard, including Digital Service Provider (DSP), title, artist, label, sales type, statement period, and territory.
Stream Count Discrepancies
It is important to remember that the Analytics Dashboard should be used to understand content performance rather than to estimate revenue. Discrepancies in stream counts between the Analytics Dashboard and Royalty Statements are common and usually stem from how data is processed by each Digital Service Provider (DSP).
One primary reason for these differences is the variation in criteria for monetization. The number of streams or downloads is only one factor in calculating royalties. For example, some platforms allow a user to download a track three times after a single purchase; this may appear as four separate events in analytics but will be reported as only one sale in Royalty Statements because it was only paid for once.
Non-Royalty Bearing Streams
Many Digital Service Providers (DSPs), including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Deezer, include non-royalty-bearing streams in their analytics data. These are streams that do not generate revenue and therefore do not appear in Royalty Statements.
Common reasons for non-royalty-bearing streams include:
Streams under 30 seconds: Most major services do not monetize a stream unless it has been played for at least 30 seconds.
Despamming: This is a process managed by the Digital Service Provider (DSP) to filter out artificial or "non-genuine" streams. Only finalized, "despammed" figures are included in official royalty reporting.
Free Trials: Streams occurring during certain promotional free trial periods offered by the service may not be included in royalty-bearing counts.
User-Generated Content (UGC): On many platforms, only the specific creation or upload by a user is royalty-bearing. Streams related to secondary uses, such as Reels, Stories, or TikToks, may be tracked in analytics but follow different payout structures or may not count toward total stream figures in your statements.
Reporting Lags and Accounting Cycles
FUGA does not recommend using the Analytics Dashboard to verify royalty reporting because the underlying data sets are fundamentally different. It is vital to consider the accounting cycle of each Digital Service Provider (DSP), as the sales period and the statement period are distinct.
Streams occurring in a specific month are typically not accounted for in that same month. Generally, the earliest these will appear is two months later. FUGA sends out royalty statement packages on the 15th of every month, including all sales reports received from services in the prior month.
Major services like Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music usually send sales reports the month after the stream occurred. These are accounted for on the 15th of the following month, approximately 1.5 months after the end of the sales period. Other services may report less frequently or have a larger lag in their cycle, creating a wider gap between the time of the stream and its appearance in your Royalty Statements.
If you have specific questions regarding a report or notice a discrepancy that falls outside these standard cycles, contact your FUGA representative or reach out via our support channel.