How to Collect All Your Music Royalties

To collect all your music royalties, register with four entities: a distributor for streaming royalties, a PRO (ASCAP or BMI) for performance royalties, The MLC for mechanical royalties, and SoundExchange for digital radio royalties. Most artists only register with one or two, leaving 40-60% of their earned royalties uncollected. This guide walks you through every registration in the correct order.

Introduction

Your music is already generating multiple royalty streams. The question is whether that money reaches you or sits in holding accounts before getting redistributed to bigger artists.

The collection system is fragmented. Six different royalty types. Four different collection entities. No single dashboard that shows you everything. If you do not know where to register, you do not get paid.

This guide gives you the exact registration sequence for collecting every royalty your catalog generates. No theory. No history. Just the steps, in order, with timelines. For the full breakdown of each royalty type and how they work, see Music Royalties Explained: The 6 Types You Earn.

The Four Entities You Need

These are the organizations you must register with to collect all royalty types.

Total time: under one hour. Total annual cost: just your distributor fee. Three of these registrations are free.

Step 1: Choose and Set Up Your Distributor

Timeline: 15-30 minutes

Your distributor delivers your recordings to streaming platforms and collects streaming royalties on your behalf. This is the one entity most artists already have.

Choose a distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, and CD Baby are the most common for independents). Create an account and complete your profile. Set up your payment method. Upload your first release or add your existing catalog.

Your distributor collects streaming royalties from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and 50+ other platforms. They pay you, typically 2-3 months after streams occur.

What your distributor does not handle: performance royalties, mechanical royalties, or digital radio royalties. Your distributor covers the master recording side only. The composition side requires separate registration.

Distributor Comparison

Step 2: Register with a PRO

Timeline: 15 minutes

A Performing Rights Organization collects performance royalties whenever your composition is played publicly. Public performance includes streaming, radio, TV broadcasts, live venues, and businesses playing music.

Go to ascap.com or bmi.com (you can only register with one US PRO at a time). Click "Join" and select "Songwriter/Composer." Complete the registration form. Accept the membership agreement.

The step most artists skip: registering yourself is not enough. You must also register each of your songs as "works" in your PRO's database. Without this, your PRO cannot match incoming royalties to your catalog.

How to Register Your Songs

Log into your PRO account. Go to "Works" or "Repertoire." Add each song with its title, writers and their ownership percentages, ISRC code (from your distributor), and release date. Save and submit.

Do this for every song in your catalog. Songs that are not registered as works do not generate matched payments. This is the single most common reason artists leave royalties uncollected.

Step 3: Register with The MLC

Timeline: 10 minutes

The Mechanical Licensing Collective collects mechanical royalties from streaming platforms. Every stream generates a mechanical royalty in addition to the performance royalty, but most artists never collect it.

Go to themlc.com and click "Register." Create an account as a "Self-Administered Songwriter." Complete your profile with your legal name, stage name, and IPI number (you get this from your PRO registration). Add your songs to your catalog.

Mechanical royalties from streaming add roughly 15-25% on top of what you receive from your distributor. On a song with one million Spotify streams, that could mean an extra $600-$800 you would never see without MLC registration.

The MLC launched in 2021. If you released music before then and never registered, mechanical royalties may be sitting unclaimed. Register now to claim them before the holding period expires and the money gets redistributed.

Step 4: Register with SoundExchange

Timeline: 10 minutes

SoundExchange collects royalties when your recordings are played on digital and satellite radio. This includes SiriusXM, Pandora (non-interactive), iHeartRadio, and internet radio stations.

Go to soundexchange.com and click "Register." Create an account. Register as both a "Sound Recording Copyright Owner" and a "Featured Artist." This dual registration is critical.

SoundExchange distributes royalties as 50% to the master owner and 45% to the featured artist (5% goes to session players). If you own your masters and perform on your recordings, you are entitled to 95% of the total. But you must register under both roles to receive both shares.

The most common mistake: registering only as the featured artist and missing the 50% owner share. Or registering only as the owner and missing the 45% artist share.

Step 5: Register Your Full Catalog with Each Entity

Registration is two steps: registering yourself and registering your songs. The second step is where most artists fail.

Your checklist:

• All songs uploaded to your distributor

• All songs registered as works with your PRO (with correct splits)

• All songs added to your MLC catalog

• SoundExchange account active with both roles (songs are matched automatically by ISRC)

When you release new music, repeat this process. Upload to your distributor, register the work with your PRO, add to your MLC catalog. Build the habit now so you never leave royalties uncollected on future releases.

The Registration Timeline

Here is the recommended order to complete everything:

Day 1: Foundation. Choose and set up your distributor (15 min). Register with your PRO as a songwriter (15 min).

Day 2: Composition royalties. Register all your songs as works with your PRO (30-60 min depending on catalog size). Register with The MLC (10 min). Add your catalog to The MLC (20-30 min).

Day 3: Master royalties. Register with SoundExchange as both owner and artist (10 min). Verify your distributor has your bank info correct (5 min).

Total time: 2-3 hours spread across three days. Once this is done, you are set up to collect all six royalty types. The ongoing maintenance is minimal.

What Happens to Money You Do Not Collect

Unclaimed royalties sit in holding accounts at each collection entity. After a holding period (typically 3-5 years depending on the organization), unclaimed money gets redistributed to other registered rights holders based on market share.

Your money goes to bigger artists and publishers who are properly registered. The system rewards people who show up.

If you have been releasing music for years without these registrations, there may be significant royalties in holding accounts. Registering now claims them before they are redistributed. For more on how publishing royalties work internationally, see Music Publishing.

Common Mistakes

Only registering with a distributor. Your distributor collects streaming royalties from the master only. Performance royalties, mechanical royalties, and digital radio royalties require separate registration. You are leaving 40-60% of your royalties uncollected.

Registering yourself but not your songs. Signing up for ASCAP does not automatically register your catalog. You must add each song as a work. Without this step, no payments match to you.

Skipping The MLC. It launched in 2021. Many artists do not know it exists. But it collects real money that adds 15-25% to your streaming income. Registration takes 10 minutes.

Not registering with SoundExchange as both owner and artist. If you own your masters and perform on your recordings, you are entitled to 95% of SoundExchange royalties. Missing one role means losing roughly half your payment.

Waiting until you are "bigger." The setup takes two hours total. The earlier you do it, the more royalties you collect. There is no minimum stream count required.

FAQ

How long until I see royalty payments?

Distributor payments arrive 2-3 months after streams. PRO and MLC payments are quarterly with a 6-9 month delay. SoundExchange pays quarterly. Expect 3-9 months from streams to payment across all sources.

Do I need all four registrations if I only use Spotify?

Yes. One Spotify stream generates royalties collected by your distributor (master), your PRO (performance), and The MLC (mechanical). Three separate payments from one stream.

What if I co-wrote songs with other people?

Register the songs with correct splits. Each co-writer registers with their own PRO and MLC accounts using the same percentages. Written split agreements prevent disputes.

Can I do this if I am signed to a label?

Partially. If your label owns your masters, they receive the distributor and SoundExchange owner share. You still register for the SoundExchange artist share (45%). Composition royalties depend on your publishing deal. Check your contracts.

Read Next

• Music Royalties Explained: The 6 Types You Earn

• Music Income: How Artists Actually Get Paid

• Music Publishing: How It Works

Stop Missing Royalties:

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