Most royalty problems aren't dramatic. They're a song you forgot to register in 2023, a co-writer who spelled your name wrong, a missing producer split at SoundExchange. Each one quietly costs you money every month. Here's how to check your whole catalogue, one database at a time.
Before you start, make a simple spreadsheet: one row per released song, with columns for title, release date, all writers' legal names, agreed splits, ISRC, ISWC, and a yes/no column for each database below. Your distributor dashboard has your ISRCs.
Step 1: Your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or international)
- Log into your PRO account and pull the full list of registered works. Compare it against your release list — every released song should appear. Anything missing: register it now.
- For each registered work, open it and check: are all co-writers listed? Do the split percentages match what you agreed on your split sheet? Do they total 100%?
- Check every writer's IPI number is present and correct — a name alone is not enough for reliable matching.
- Look for duplicate registrations of the same song (common when two co-writers both registered it). Duplicates can put a work into conflict and hold payment.
Step 2: The MLC (if your music streams in the U.S.)
- Search the MLC's public database for each of your songs. Streaming services pay U.S. mechanical royalties only through the MLC — your PRO does not collect these.
- Confirm each work is linked to the correct sound recordings (ISRCs). One composition often has several recordings — album version, sped-up, acoustic. Each unlinked ISRC is unmatched money.
- Check writer shares match your PRO registration exactly. Disagreements between databases are how songs end up in limbo.
Step 3: SoundExchange
- Make sure you're registered in every role that applies to you: featured artist and rights owner are separate registrations with separate payments.
- Search their catalogue for your recordings and claim any that are unclaimed.
- If a producer or featured guest is owed a share of your digital performance royalties, that requires a Letter of Direction on file — verbal agreements don't route money.
Step 4: Cross-check the details that break matching
- Names: your legal name must be spelled identically across all three databases. 'Mike' vs 'Michael' is enough to break a match.
- Identifiers: every song should have its ISWC recorded, and every recording its ISRC, consistently everywhere.
- Splits: the same percentages in every database, backed by a signed split sheet so there's a paper trail if anything is disputed.
How long this takes — and the shortcut
Budget roughly 20–30 minutes per song if your records are tidy, more if they aren't. For a five-song catalogue, that's an afternoon well spent. For fifty songs across multiple collaborators, it's a genuine project — and the fiddly parts (conflicts, duplicate registrations, backdated claims) are where most people give up.
If you'd rather have it done for you, that's exactly what our Catalogue Audit is: we check every work across your PRO, the MLC, and SoundExchange and deliver a gap report listing every missing registration, mismatched name, and broken split — plus exactly how to fix each one. Audit your catalogue once, then keep it clean with a signed split sheet on every new song.