---
title: Cross-collateralisation: what it means and what it does to the money
publisher: RapCanon
canonical: https://rapcanon.com/glossary/cross-collateralisation/
license: CC-BY-4.0
retrieved: 2026-08-12
---

> Cross-collateralisation is a contractual term allowing a label to recover the unrecouped balance of one project out of the earnings of another.

Glossary · Economics

 
# Cross-collateralisation

 
also filed under: cross collateralization, cross-collateralized

 
 

 
 Cross-collateralisation is a contractual term allowing a label to recover the unrecouped balance of one project out of the earnings of another. 

 
## The mechanism

 
Without it, each project settles on its own account. With it, the accounts are pooled, so a deficit on one release is cleared from the proceeds of a later one before the artist participates.

 
## A worked example

 An artist whose first two albums remain unrecouped can find a successful third album clearing those deficits before it pays them anything. 

 
## What it is confused with

 - Recoupment Recoupment is repayment from the artist's share. Cross-collateralisation determines which projects' shares are available to repay from.
 

 
## Why it matters

 
It is the clause that most often explains why a hit record produces no payment, and it is negotiable more often than artists assume.

 
Sources: US Copyright Office
 This entry is part of an open dataset published under CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution.
 Related: Recoupment · Black box royalties · 360 deal

---

## How to cite this page

**APA**
RapCanon. (2026). Cross-collateralisation: what it means and what it does to the money. Retrieved from https://rapcanon.com/glossary/cross-collateralisation/

**BibTeX**
```bibtex
@misc{rapcanon-glossary-cross-collateralisation,
  title  = {Cross-collateralisation: what it means and what it does to the money},
  author = {{RapCanon}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://rapcanon.com/glossary/cross-collateralisation/},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-08-12}
}
```

**Wikipedia**
```
{{cite web |title=Cross-collateralisation: what it means and what it does to the money |url=https://rapcanon.com/glossary/cross-collateralisation/ |publisher=RapCanon |access-date=2026-08-12}}
```

Licensed CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution and a link back.
Canonical HTML: https://rapcanon.com/glossary/cross-collateralisation/