What is the difference between money I collect from distribution sales and money I collect from songwriter royalties?

When a song is written and recorded, two different copyrights are created: the sound recording and the underlying composition.

The composition is the musical work created by a songwriter/composer, with or without lyrics, including rhythm, chords, lyrics, and melody.

The sound recording, also known as a ‘master,’ is the recording of a performance of the composition.

For licensed uses of musical compositions, songwriters and composers get paid, usually collected by a publishing administrator like Master Publishing.

For licensed uses of sound recordings, performers/artists get paid, and the money is usually collected by a record label or distributor, like MasterStreams distribution service.