Overview
E-Commerce and Offline Sales
Every quarter, you’ll receive a royalty statement in a PDF and CSV file for all sales on Fonts.com, Fontshop.com, Linotype.com, and any other sales from Monotype sources. This statement will come from royaltysupport@monotype.com.
As a reminder - MyFonts sales work a bit differently; you’re paid monthly and can view your sales in the Foundry Platform. Read more here.
Legacy E-commerce Site Changes.
On August 30, 2023, we announced plans to consolidate our direct commerce sales platforms around its flagship e-commerce site MyFonts.com. Our e-commerce sales platforms Linotype, FontShop, and Fonts.com will be phased out over the next year and customers will be transitioned to MyFonts.com.
As the sites are phased out, they will also be phased out of your quarterly royalty reports. You will still have access to your order history from the legacy sites on Foundry Platform.
Please read more about the changes here: Legacy E-commerce Site Changes FAQ
Monotype Fonts Royalties
Foundries who have signed the latest agreement will also see royalty payments associated with Monotype Fonts customer activity. Read more about Monotype Fonts Royalty Model.
Foundry Platform Tools
Before we dive into the details of these royalty statements, we want to share that new payment and sales report tools are available in Foundry Platform which will allow you to see all your sales and payments from all sources.
The Earnings Report and Payments Dashboard tools display sales information in a clear way that matches the way we do business today, and should remove some of the uncertainty and complexity that we know is present in the current CSV files.
Royalty Statement Basics
Each row in the sheet corresponds to a product; typically these are individual font skus, but could be other grouped products too (more on that below). Each column contains additional information about the details of that sku’s sale.
Sheet Columns
The CSV sheets can be a great tool to see details about each order and a way to see overall trends in your library. Below you’ll find an explanation for each column in the sheet.
Column Name |
Meaning |
|
Royalty Contract ID |
This is the ID of our agreement with you. This can come in handy if you have more than one agreement with Monotype and have questions about your royalties. |
|
Selling Company Name |
This is the name of the Monotype entity that sold your fonts. Monotype is a global company with teams around the world and we are incorporated in many countries. You may see the following entities on your statements:
Orders from other countries are processed through one of the above entities. You can see more details about our offices here. You may also see entities that we’ve acquired as the selling company name.
|
|
Sales Order Number |
This is the number of that particular order. If there are multiple rows with the same order number, this means that all those fonts in those rows are in the same order. Use the “Pivot Table” function in excel to group rows by order number to see sales per order (see section titled Pivot Tables below for detailed instructions). |
|
Month of Sale |
This will be formatted as Month-Year for example: “Dec-2020”. |
|
Distribution Channel |
This refers to the source of the order.
|
|
Item Description |
This is the name of the typeface sold followed by the material number. Each product has a unique material number assigned by Monotype. |
|
Kit Description |
If the typeface was sold grouped as a larger product, this is the name of the product sold to the customer. For example, a family pack, bundle, or part of Monotype Fonts. |
|
Qty Sold |
The quantity field is ambiguous and could mean something different depending on the use case. For example, the quantity for an OEM license might represent the quantity of devices shipped, and for a desktop license this might represent the number of seats sold. Our new tools will provide greater detail. Coming soon! |
|
Net Sales |
Net Sales is the final selling price that you are being paid royalties on. |
|
Channel ID |
This column provides information about licensing sold. See section titled “Channel ID Codes” below for details. |
|
Royalty Basis |
Royalty basis is how the royalty is calculated based on the terms of the agreement. |
|
MSRP |
Please ignore this field; we are not populating this data. |
|
Royalty Rate |
This is the royalty rate for that particular typeface and licensing as defined by your agreement with us. Make sure you’re on the latest agreement for the most sales opportunities and our most favorable rates. |
|
Royalty Due |
This is what you earned on that particular typeface and licensing shown in that row. For “Percent of Sales” orders, it is calculated by multiplying your Net Sales by your Royalty Rate. |
Channel ID Codes
In column “Channel ID”, you will see different codes which refer to the licensing sold for each font. The key below provides more details for the meanings of these labels. Keep in mind that Monotype has been selling fonts since the pre-digital age, so many of these codes are a reflection of legacy ways of selling that have been adapted over the years. As previously mentioned, we’re building new sales reports tools that provide more details about each order and modernize the order classification system used. Until then, here’s the details about the Channel ID codes in the reports you receive.
Channel ID Code |
Meaning |
|
BC |
Brand Content. You can ignore this label, and you won’t see it in your report. It is no longer used. |
|
DBLL |
Desktop Base License (Library) You can ignore this label. Your fonts are considered “Non Library” - see row below. |
|
DBLNL |
Desktop Base License (Non-Library) This refers to a desktop license. This Base License is the first “bucket” of users granted by the EULA. Typically this is 5 users, but could be different depending on the EULA. This also includes EPub licenses. |
|
DMLL |
Desktop Multi-User License (Library) You can ignore this label. Your fonts are considered “Non Library” - see row below. |
|
DMLNL |
Desktop Multi-User License (Non-Library) This refers to a desktop license. This Multi-User license is for all the desktop users beyond the Base License. This also includes EPub licenses. |
|
DTS |
Desktop Subscription This code refers to orders related to a product we no longer actively sell called MLS (Monotype Library Subscription). You shouldn’t see this on your reports unless there is a renewal of an older, legacy order. |
|
OLF/OLT |
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) OEM started out as just traditional licensing of embedded software in physical devices (like printers), but as time went on, this label was broadened when we licensed “OEM-like” rights digitally. Server and App licenses are considered OEM licenses. |
|
WFS |
Web Fonts License This includes all Webfont and Digital Ad Licenses. |
How to Create a Pivot Table in Excel
If you want to get more summary data from this sheet, we recommend using the Pivot Table function in Excel. Here’s how to do it:
- First, in the review tab, you may need to click the icon for unprotect sheet. (Review > Unprotect Sheet)
- Next, convert your data into a table.
- Highlight all rows including the header row containing labels.
- Copy and paste data to a new tab in the sheet.
- Before deselecting the data, click the icon for table (Insert > Table).
- Check the box for My Table has headers.
- Once you are on the tab with the table, click the icon for PivotTable (Insert > PivotTable)
- Click OK if it looks like this:
- Set up your PivotTable fields by dragging and dropping them to look like this:
This will result in a filter to choose between Web Sales, Direct Sales, or Both, and below that a table showing rows grouped by orders and columns by license type along with a grand total for each order. Explore using the pivot table feature to summarize the data in other ways that may be helpful for you!
FAQ
I see a row with an Item Description of “Monotype - DESIGN”. What is this?
You’re seeing this revenue because your fonts are part of the Monotype Fonts inventory or they were included as an add-on license in a Monotype Fonts order. This is your share of the access fee for customers activating and prototyping with your fonts while using the Monotype Fonts portal.
I see a row with an Item Description of “Monotype - WFS”. What is this?
We used to sell web font hosting subscriptions through Fonts.com. While most customers have been migrated to newer products, we still collect monthly from customers on this old "hosted" subscription model. This row represents revenue allocated to your fonts in old web font subscription orders.
There’s no information about customers in these reports. How can I get that?
We are working to make this available to you in the new Sales Reports tool that will be in Foundry Platform. In the meantime, if you are working with a customer and want to see if they’ve licensed your fonts with us previously, just reach out and we are happy to provide more details. Please keep in mind that some customers require strict privacy clauses in their agreements with us and we may not be able to tell you some customer names due to this.
The Channel ID codes don’t give me enough detail about the specific licenses sold. How can I get that?
We agree! We are working to make these details visible in the new Sales Reports tool that will be in Foundry Platform. In the meantime, if you have a specific order you’d like more info on, just reach out and we are happy to help. Please note that the team is especially busy the last few weeks of the end of the quarter and the first few weeks of the start of the quarter, but we’ll try to get you the necessary information ASAP.