Serious question about Copyright

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14. Streaming services pay royalties which, in part, flow to recording artists and songwriters

It's a complex system, but broken down to its simplest terms:

There are two separate copyrights in a recorded song. One is the copyright in the musical composition (i.e., the song itself). The other is in the sound recording of that song.

The royalty for the sound recording performance right is set through an entity known as the Copyright Royalty Board, which also sets the terms for the license obtained by paying the royalty. The streaming services pay the royalty due to an entity called SoundExchange, which was set up to represent the record companies and allocate the royalties based on what recordings are performed and how often. The royalties collected by SoundExchange are divided between the record company and the recording artist. A summary of this arrangement can be found here:https://www.soundexchange.com/artist-copyright-owner/digital-royalties/

The royalty due to the owner of the copyright in the musical composition (the songwriter or some entity that has acquired the rights from the songwriter) is paid to a "Performing Rights Society" -- entities established to represent an allocate royalties to songwriters. The best known performing rights societies are ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The amount of those royalties are negotiated between the performing rights society and the streaming services.