Royalty Registration Audit Checklist for Independent Artists
A royalty registration audit checks every song against two copyrights and four collection lanes: the composition, the sound recording, performance, mechanical, neighbouring-rights, and recording-revenue paths. For each work, verify ownership, writers and splits, identifiers, the correct society or administrator, tax and payment details, and the account status. Search before registering again.
Lead visual
The royalty waterfall
Spotify revenue pool
Subscriptions + ads
Streamshare
Your share of listening
Rightsholder payment
Distributor or label
Artist net
Fees, splits, recoupment
Deduction
Distributor fee
Deduction
Collaborator splits
Deduction
Recoupable costs
Royalties · Collect
Money path map
Use this for
Separate gross activity from the money that can actually reach you.
Watch for
Stream counts look encouraging while payable revenue is missing, delayed, or assigned to the wrong party.
Check
Rightsholders, collection societies, statement rows, splits, fees, and recoupment terms.
Result
A cleaner royalty map and a better next check before you chase payment.
A royalty audit gets useful when it stops being a list of services and becomes a row-by-row check. Start with your catalog, then ask what you wrote, what you recorded, what you performed, and what you still own. The answer can differ from one track to the next.
Key takeaways
- Keep composition and sound-recording rights in separate columns.
- Check writer and publisher shares before you submit a work.
- An ISRC identifies a recording. It does not replace a composition registration.
- Search existing work and recording records before opening a new claim.
- Treat Canadian performance, mechanical, and neighbouring-rights paths as separate checks.
What belongs in a royalty registration audit?
Put one recording or composition on each row and keep the evidence beside it. A registration is only useful when the right organization can match the work to the correct people, shares, territory, and payment account. No single account proves that every royalty lane is covered.
The audit row
Five fields to verify before you file
Identity
Title, version, writers, publisher, duration, release date
Stops two versions or two works being treated as one
Recording
ISRC, primary artist, contributors, master owner
Gives recording-use reports a matching reference
Shares
Writer and publisher percentages, with written agreement
Routes money to the people who own each share
Collection
PRO, mechanical, neighbouring-rights, and distributor paths
Shows which right is registered and which is still open
Account
Tax form, bank details, mandate, and portal status
Separates a registered work from a payable account
The four-pass royalty registration checklist
One row at a time
From catalog to confirmed account
- 01
Pass 01
Build the source row
List the composition and recording separately. Add the writers, shares, publisher status, master owner, ISRC, and the document that supports each answer.
- 02
Pass 02
Search first
Look for an existing work or recording before submitting a duplicate. Check the society, administrator, distributor, and any available claiming or matching tool.
- 03
Pass 03
Map the right
Mark performance, mechanical, neighbouring-rights, and recording-revenue routes independently. A filled row in one lane does not close the others.
- 04
Pass 04
Save the proof
Keep the confirmation, work or recording ID, submitted shares, mandate, and the date you checked the account. Revisit rows marked pending or disputed.
How the checklist changes by royalty lane
Performance and mechanical royalties belong to the composition. In Canada, SOCAN is the performance route, while mechanical collection can use CMRRA or separate SOCAN Reproduction Rights. A Canadian writer should choose one authorized path for overlapping US mechanical coverage rather than register the same works through both CMRRA International and The MLC.
Neighbouring rights and recording revenue belong to the sound recording side. Check your performer and maker roles separately. In the US, SoundExchange handles the statutory digital-performance right for sound recordings, which is different from a PRO's composition performance work. Canada has its own Re:Sound and collective routes.
Your distributor is another row, not the whole audit. Spotify pays the recording rightsholder through the distributor or label. The composition side can still need its own PRO, mechanical, or publishing administration registration.
A worked catalog row
Use a constructed row to expose gaps before you open a portal. The example below keeps a performer credit, a master-owner answer, and a composition split in different fields. That separation is the useful part.
Northline | “Glass Harbour” Composition: Northline 75%, Mira Chen 25% | publisher: self-administered Recording: ISRC CA-VLV-26-00001 | master owner: Northline Performance: SOCAN work record searched, confirmation saved Mechanical: CMRRA International selected | The MLC duplicate search completed Recording rights: distributor statement checked | performer and maker roles documented Status: mechanical confirmation pending | next check: 2026-09-11
- “The MLC duplicate search completed”
- Searching before filing reduces the risk of creating a second work record when a claim or match already exists.
- “performer and maker roles documented”
- A performer and a sound-recording owner can be different people, so the audit records both roles instead of assuming one share.
Estimate the catalog's royalty picture after the registration rows are complete.
When a row is incomplete
Do not guess a split, substitute an ISRC, or open a second account to make the spreadsheet look finished. Mark the row blocked, identify the missing evidence, and ask the relevant co-writer, rightsholder, or society what correction process applies. If the issue is a bad release field, use the separate back-catalog metadata audit before registering again.
Keep a review date for every pending row. A registration audit is a control system for your catalog, not a one-time burst of form filling.
Frequently asked questions
How often should an independent artist run a royalty registration audit?+
Run one when you add a release, change a distributor or administrator, or discover a mismatch in a statement. A yearly review is a sensible operating habit for a catalog that keeps growing. The point is to compare your source catalog with each account, not to file the same work repeatedly.
Does an ISRC prove that I own a song?+
No. An ISRC identifies a sound recording. Composition ownership still depends on the work record, writer and publisher identities, and the agreed shares. Keep the recording identifier beside the composition data so the two layers can be matched without treating one code as proof of every right.
What should I do if I find a duplicate work registration?+
Stop and search the administrator's tools before creating another record. The MLC's Claiming Tool can find available shares on existing musical works, while its Matching Tool connects registered works to reported recording uses. For other societies, follow their correction or conflict process and keep the evidence that supports your ownership and splits.
Is a royalty registration the same as copyright registration?+
No. Copyright exists automatically when a musical work or sound recording is fixed in Canada and the US. A PRO, mechanical administrator, or neighbouring-rights service is about identifying rights and routing royalties. CIPO or the US Copyright Office is a separate copyright-registration decision.
What if I performed on a recording but do not own the master?+
Audit the performer path separately from the recording-owner path. The master owner and the performers can have different rights and collection accounts. Record the role you actually hold, the recording's ISRC, and the agreement or credit that supports it. Do not claim the maker share unless you own that interest.
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Run your own streaming math
Plug in your streams and a payout range to see gross revenue, your share after the distributor fee and splits, and how many streams it takes to recoup a budget.