Advances
What is an Advance?
An Advance is an Expense paid by the Organization to one or more Rights-Holders, usually upfront, in anticipation of future royalties.
Advances are commonly used to finance projects, secure contractual commitments, or support the development of Artists, Songwriters, Producers, or other contributors. Unlike Fees, Advances are typically paid immediately and are expected to be recouped against future royalty earnings.
From an accounting perspective, an Advance represents a money outflow for the Organization and is recorded as a debit entry. Until the Advance is fully recouped, the affected Rights-Holders will not receive additional royalty payments.
Advances are a fundamental mechanism in music and media contracts and are handled explicitly in Reprtoir to ensure accurate recoupment and payment tracking.
Where to find Advances
Advances are displayed in the Expenses list.
To access the Advances list, open the navigation menu on the left, click the "Royalty Accounting" icon, locate the "Transactions" section, and click the "Expenses" list.
Advances coexist with Fees and other Expense types in the same list.
Adding and processing an Advance
An Advance follows a single-step workflow, similar to Fees.
Open the navigation menu on the left, click the "Royalty Accounting" icon, locate the "Transactions" section, and click the "Expenses" list.
At the top right of the list, click the "New Expense" button and select "New Advance".
A panel opens to create the Advance.
Details
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Internal name of the Advance |
| Contract — Money Out | Contract defining the Rights-Holders receiving the Advance |
| Expense Date | Date on which the Advance is paid |
| Source Currency | Currency in which the Advance is paid |
| Amount | Total amount paid upfront |
| Recoupable Amount | Amount to be recouped against future royalties |
| Notes | Internal notes |
The Recoupable Amount defines how much of the Advance will be offset against future earnings. It may be equal to or lower than the total Advance amount, depending on the contract terms.
Tags
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Custom Tags | Tags assigned to the Expense |
Once all required fields are completed, click the "Save" button.
This action immediately launches the calculation.
There is no separate validation or processing step.
What happens after saving
As soon as an Advance is saved:
- Accounting Operations are generated
- Operations appear in the Operations tab and in the Operations list
- Operations are linked to the selected Money Out Contract
- Contract Balances are updated to reflect the recoupable Advance
- Rights-Holder Balances reflect the Advance and its recoupment status
- A Payment is automatically created, representing the upfront payout to the Rights-Holders
- The Expense status is set to "Processed"
Advances therefore have an immediate accounting and payment impact, while their financial effect continues over time through the recoupment mechanism applied during future royalty calculations.
Updated 11 days ago