Your music earns money in more places than you think, and most independent artists leave cash on the table. There are performance royalties from radio and venues, mechanical royalties from streams and downloads, sync fees from film and TV, and neighboring rights from digital radio. Each stream of income needs a different registration, and missing even one means money that is rightfully yours sits in someone else’s account. Map every royalty type to the society or service that collects it before your music starts earning.
Start with the basics: register as both a songwriter and a publisher with your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC), register your catalog with the MLC for U.S. mechanical royalties, and sign up for SoundExchange to collect digital performance royalties as both artist and rights owner. Skip any one of these and that money simply never reaches you.
Go Global With Your Collection
Your PRO covers the U.S., but royalties earned abroad need international collection. Many PROs have reciprocal agreements, yet money still slips through cracks. Services that specialize in global royalty collection can chase down what reciprocal deals miss, especially across dozens of territories. This matters most once your music travels — a viral moment in another country should pay you, not disappear into foreign black boxes.
Keep your metadata clean everywhere: correct songwriter splits, accurate ISRC codes, and consistent titles across distributors and societies. Bad metadata is the number one reason royalties go unmatched and unpaid. Audit your registrations once a year and treat royalty collection like the business function it is.
About the Author – Ruben Burgos: Ruben Burgos brings over 25 years of music expertise and more than 15 years of model guidance to the table. He is the indie major pinnacle to retaining credits for musicians and helping them navigate this wicked industry without the fuckery.