A lot of artists think “royalties” are one single thing that lands in one single place. They are not. They are several rivers of money, each with its own dam. If you do not open every dam, part of your money sits still where you cannot see it. Let us go step by step, in order, calmly.
🧭 What types of royalties are there?
Think of it as four separate envelopes:
- Performance (public performance). Generated every time your song plays in public: radio, streaming, bars, TV. As a songwriter, this is collected by your PRO (for example BMI or ASCAP).
- Mechanicals. Generated by copies and reproductions of the composition (streaming, downloads). In the United States, streaming mechanicals are administered by the MLC.
- Neighboring rights (artist/master). These belong to the owner of the recording (the master), not the composition. In the United States, SoundExchange pays neighboring rights from digital radio and non-interactive streaming.
- Sync (synchronisation). When your music is used in a film, series, ad or video game. Negotiated case by case.
The key thing almost nobody tells you: the same song can pay you from all four envelopes at once, because they are different rights over different things (the composition vs. the recording).
🗺️ Where is each royalty registered?
Here is the map. Every river has its dam:
- Performance → your PRO (BMI, ASCAP, or another one depending on your country). You register as a writer and register your works.
- Streaming mechanicals (US) → the MLC. This is where a huge detail lives, explained below: the black box.
- Neighboring rights → SoundExchange. Joining SoundExchange is free. If you never registered there, it is very possible there is money waiting for you. Confirm it yourself in your account.
- Distribution (master streaming) → your distributor (the one that uploads your music to Spotify, Apple, and so on).
- Sync → you, your publisher or a sync agent handle it directly.
📦 What is the “black box” and why does it matter to me?
The black box is royalty money that was generated but nobody claimed, because the data was wrong or incomplete (misspelled name, unregistered work, splits never reconciled). That money does not disappear: it piles up.
The problem is how it gets shared out afterwards. When unclaimed money sits for too long, it ends up being split by market share — that is, according to who carries the most weight in the market. Translation: if you do not claim what is yours in time, your slice can end up going to the big players, not to you.
🪜 In what order should I do all this?
A logical order so you do not get lost:
- Register as a songwriter with your PRO and register every one of your works.
- Join the MLC (if you distribute in the US) and claim your mechanicals.
- Join SoundExchange (it is free) for the master’s neighboring rights.
- Confirm that your distributor is paying you master streaming correctly.
- Check your splits (the percentages with your co-writers) so everything adds up.
- Chase sync separately, as opportunities come up.
You do not have to do it all in one day. But every step you skip is an envelope that stays closed.
❌ What are the most common mistakes?
- Being in only one place. Many people are with their PRO but never joined SoundExchange or the MLC. Unopened envelopes.
- Misspelled name or data. A different name on each platform sends your money to the black box.
- Splits never reconciled. If you say you have 50% and your co-writer registered 60%, the work adds up to more than 100% and gets stuck.
- Duplicate titles. The same song registered twice fights with itself.
- Never checking. Mistakes do not fix themselves. Somebody has to look at them.
🪜 How does Solnota help me keep things in order?
Solnota does not replace these steps: it helps you do them right and check that they stay right. El Auditor checks your catalog for those common errors (over-claims, duplicates, works never reconciled). El Vigilante shows you signals worth checking and gives you calendar alerts (24/7 monitoring comes later). And El Doctor shows you, with sample contracts, how to read a contract so you know which part of these royalties is really yours (with yours, very soon).
And most importantly: Solnota is non-custodial. It never touches your money. The money that belongs to you goes straight to your bank, not to ours.