Royalty

A royalty is a form of income received for giving the rights to another person or entity to use a product or right that the first person owns.

Royalties are common in two areas:

• The entertainment industry (whereby the writers and singers of a song, or actors and writers of a film, receive royalties each time the song or film is played)
• The mineral industry (for example, a landowner whose property has minerals underneath it -- most commonly crude oil and natural gas -- will receive a portion of the sale of any oil and gas produced)