A lot of artists think “if there were money, it would have reached me by now”. It does not work like that. Music money does not chase you: you have to go get it. Here is an honest checklist to find out if something was left behind.
🎧 Sign 1 · Your music plays, but you see no money
You have streams, it gets radio play, people use it in videos — but your income does not match all that movement?
That is the classic sign. Music that plays earns money from several sides at once (streaming, radio, sync), and not all of those paths reach your pocket on their own. If it plays a lot and pays little, there is something to check.
🏦 Sign 2 · You never registered with the MLC or SoundExchange
This is the most common mistake, and the most expensive one.
- The MLC collects mechanical royalties from streaming in the United States. If you are not registered, that money can go straight into the black box.
- SoundExchange collects the recording side (digital radio, satellite, and so on). Joining is free. If you are the artist or the owner of the recording and you are not signed up, you are letting a check go by.
🔄 Sign 3 · You changed distributor (or label)
Every time you move your catalog from one platform to another, the data can break. The song keeps playing under the same name, but the money gets lost between the old distributor and the new one.
🤝 Sign 4 · You made songs with other people
You worked with a producer, a co-writer, another artist. Did you sign a split sheet (the paper that says what percentage belongs to each person)?
If there is no clear split, or the percentages do not add up to 100% — or worse, they add up to more than 100% — the system does not know how to divide it and holds the money.
📉 Sign 5 · You do not know how much you owe your label (recoupment)
Recoupment is when the label first recovers the money it advanced you, BEFORE you see a cent of royalties. Many artists do not know whether that debt is already paid off or not.
🩺 El DoctorShows you, with sample contracts and in plain words, when you stop owing the label and start seeing your money. With your own contract, very soon. →📑 Sign 6 · Works registered twice, or with different data
The same track registered twice, with different titles or different codes, confuses the system. The money gets split, lost, or stuck.
🔎 El AuditorHunts exactly this: duplicates, over-claims and black box signs in your catalog. →🎯 Put it together: the final step
If you ticked even ONE of these signs, it is worth a proper check. You can do it by hand, but it takes time and it is easy to get wrong.
That is why the Solnota scanner exists: you tell it whether you are an artist, a producer or a songwriter, and it shows you where your money could have slipped away. It does not promise to recover “everything” — that would be a lie — but it does show you where to look to claim what is yours.
SoundExchange has distributed around $13 billion over its history, and joining is free. If you have recordings that play and you are not signed up, you are leaving a check on the table. (Check your own case against your own statements.)