REKN
Artist Resource Guide

You're owed money you've never been paid.

Your music earns from 6 distinct royalty streams. Most international artists are actively collecting from at most 3. This guide explains every type, who collects it, and exactly why yours might be disappearing.

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6
Distinct royalty types

Every stream, broadcast, and placement earns from multiple angles

5 of 6
Require you to register before they pay

None of them are automatic, and nobody writes to tell you

37
Platforms, PROs and societies Rekon recognises by name

Most artists are registered with fewer than 2

The full picture

Every royalty type your music generates and who's supposed to be paying you.

The music royalty system was built by the industry, for the industry. It's fragmented across dozens of collection societies, country-specific laws, and opaque registration processes designed for major labels with dedicated rights teams. When artists navigate this alone, a significant portion of income goes uncollected every year.

The "Black Box", the pool of unclaimed royalties held by music rights organizations worldwide, is estimated at $2.5 billion annually. Without the right registrations, you're funding it.

Industry Estimate · Intelmarket Research Report

01

Mechanical Royalties

Every stream pays twice. Most artists only collect once.

Mechanical royalties are payments owed to the owner of a musical composition — the underlying song, not the recording — every time it is reproduced, including streams and downloads. They are separate from the master royalty your distributor already pays you, and they require their own registration with a mechanical rights organisation or publisher. Without it, you leave the entire publishing half of every stream on the table, permanently.

Collected by
MLC (USA)MCPS / PRS (UK)GEMA (DE)BUMA/STEMRA (NL)SACEM (FR)Harry Fox AgencySongtrustDistroKid Publishing
Why artists miss this

Your streaming distributor only administers your master recording rights. The publishing side requires a separate publisher registration or sub-publisher deal. Most artists skip this step entirely, and their mechanical royalties accumulate in collection society bank accounts, often redistributed to other rights holders after 3 years.

10–15%of total streaming income uncollected on average
Full guide to mechanical royalties →
02

Public Performance Royalties

Your song plays on the radio every week. The PRO check never arrives.

Public performance royalties are payments generated whenever your composition is performed in public: broadcast on radio or TV, streamed on services like Spotify and Apple Music, or played as background music in a café, bar, hotel lobby, or gym. They are collected by Performing Rights Organisations (PROs) around the world and paid only to registered members — you don't need to be a signed artist, just a member.

Collected by
ASCAP / BMI / SESAC (USA)PRS for Music (UK)GEMA (DE)SACEM (FR)BUMA/STEMRA (NL)SOCAN (CA)APRA AMCOS (AU)STIM (SE)TONO (NO)
Why artists miss this

Most artists register with their home country's PRO and forget the rest. But performance royalties are territorial: a UK play and a Dutch play generate separate royalties, collected by separate societies. Without representation in each territory, those earnings pool in the "black box" and are distributed to other registered rights holders. Foreign performance income is the single largest source of uncollected royalties for international artists.

€100–€1,200/yrfor artists with active radio or playlist presence
Full guide to public performance royalties →
03

Neighboring Rights

A royalty category worth billions. The USA has no direct equivalent, which is exactly why most US artists miss it.

Neighboring rights are the master recording equivalent of performance royalties, but they apply primarily outside the United States. In Europe, Canada, Japan, and most of the world, every time your sound recording (not just the song, but your actual recording) is broadcast on radio or TV, both the featured artist and the rights holder earn neighboring rights income. These are completely separate from your streaming revenue.

Collected by
PPL (UK)GVL (DE)SENA (NL)Re:Sound / SOCAN (CA)APRA AMCOS (AU)IFPI Neighbouring Rights societies
Why artists miss this

Neighboring rights don't exist in US copyright law, so American artists rarely learn about them. You must register directly with each territory's collection society, and registration is not automatic. Artists with even modest European radio presence can accumulate thousands of euros in uncollected neighboring rights per year. Without a monitoring service, you will never know.

€200–€3,000+/yrfor artists with European or international broadcast presence
Full guide to neighboring rights →
04

Synchronisation Royalties

A single TV placement can generate more income than 10 million streams.

Synchronisation ("sync") royalties are earned when your music is licensed to appear alongside moving image, such as in a film, TV series, advertisement, video game, trailer, or online video. There are always two components: a master sync fee (paid to whoever owns the sound recording) and a publishing sync fee (paid to whoever owns the composition). Both must be separately licensed. For major placements, these fees can range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Income flows through
Directly negotiated via music supervisorsSync licensing agenciesYour publisher or sub-publisherFilm and TV production companiesVideo game developers
Why artists miss this

Without a sync monitoring service, you simply may not know your music is being used. Productions frequently license music without contacting the rights holder, paying into escrow accounts that go unclaimed. Content ID catches some YouTube usage, but it doesn't cover broadcast TV, film, ads, or any platform that doesn't participate in automated rights matching.

$500–$50K+per placement, depending on media type and audience reach
Full guide to synchronisation royalties →
05

SoundExchange & Digital Performance

Satellite radio, internet radio, and digital cable TV have their own royalty system, and their own collector.

Digital performance royalties are payments for non-interactive digital audio transmissions — satellite radio, internet radio, and streaming-radio services, as distinct from on-demand platforms like Spotify. In the United States they are collected exclusively by SoundExchange and split 45% to the featured artist, 50% to the sound recording rights holder, and 5% to session musicians. Outside the US, similar rights are administered by neighboring rights societies.

Collected by
SoundExchange (USA)PPCA (AU)PPL (UK, via neighboring rights)GVL (DE, via neighboring rights)
Why artists miss this

SoundExchange requires direct registration. Your distributor cannot collect these royalties on your behalf. Artists who never register simply forfeit their share, and SoundExchange holds unclaimed royalties for only three years before redistributing them. A Pandora station playing your music every day generates real income that disappears permanently if you haven't signed up.

$200–$5,000/yrdepending on digital radio and satellite airplay volume
Full guide to soundexchange & digital performance →
06

YouTube Content ID & Ad Revenue

YouTube is the world's most-used music platform. Are you claiming your share of its ad revenue?

YouTube Content ID is an automated fingerprinting system that matches your music against the billions of videos uploaded to YouTube every day. When a match is found, you can claim the ad revenue generated by that video, turning every fan cover, gaming stream, or viral clip that uses your music into a revenue source. On top of this, YouTube Music streams generate mechanical royalties through the MLC, adding a second layer of income from the same platform.

Administered through
YouTube / Google (Content ID ad revenue)MLC (YouTube Music mechanicals, USA)MCPS / PRS (YouTube Music, UK)DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby (via Content ID delivery)
Why artists miss this

Content ID is not automatic. You must deliver your music to YouTube's rights management system through an approved Content ID partner, typically a distributor or dedicated rights management company. Without this, every video using your music monetises for the video creator, not you. Given that fan-uploaded content and UGC can generate significant long-tail revenue, unregistered artists are giving away income on every viral moment their music experiences.

$100–$2,000+/yrfrom unmonitored Content ID claims alone
Full guide to youtube content id & ad revenue →
Why Rekon

You shouldn't feel lost and confused when it comes to getting paid.

Rekon consolidates all 6 royalty streams into a single dashboard. We flag unregistered territories, detect ISRC mismatches, surface unclaimed neighboring rights, and calculate exactly how much you're leaving on the table.

Upload statements from any PRO or distributor
Automatic ISRC coverage audit across your catalog
Territory-level registration gap detection
Issue alerts ranked by estimated annual impact
Track mechanical, performance, and neighboring rights separately
See every revenue stream in one place, no spreadsheets
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Quick Reference

All 6 royalty types at a glance

Royalty TypeRight CoveredTypical CollectorRegister To Collect?
MechanicalComposition reproductionMLC, MCPS, PublisherYes, opt-in required
Public PerformanceComposition broadcast / playbackASCAP, BMI, PRS, GEMA…Yes, opt-in required
Neighboring RightsSound recording broadcast (non-US)PPL, GVL, SENA, Re:Sound…Yes, opt-in required
SynchronisationMusic in visual mediaNegotiated directly / publisherProactive licensing
SoundExchange (Digital Perf.)Sound recording on US digital radioSoundExchangeYes, opt-in required
YouTube Content IDSound recording in video contentYouTube / approved partnersYes, opt-in required

5 of 6 royalty types require active registration to collect. None are automatic.

Your royalties are out there.
Rekon helps you find them.

Upload your first statement in under 5 minutes. We'll show you exactly where you're registered, where you're not, and how to fill in the gaps.

Sign upAlso: The split sheets guide →