Millions of songwriters worldwide continue to struggle financially as unclaimed royalties pile up in the coffers of music rights organizations. Recent audits conducted by Muso.AI have revealed a troubling statistic: approximately 83% of songwriters are not receiving their rightful royalty payments due to systemic flaws in the Mechanical Licensing Collective‘s (MLC) distribution system. This represents just one facet of a larger industry issue, with an estimated 30% of music royalties—billions of dollars—going unclaimed annually.
While billions in royalties remain unclaimed, 83% of songwriters miss payments due to flawed distribution systems.
The problem stems primarily from incomplete data collection and outdated infrastructure that fails to properly match performances with their creators. PRS For Music, one of the largest collecting societies, currently holds millions of pounds in unpaid royalties simply because they lack complete setlist information necessary for proper distribution. In 2019 alone, these unclaimed royalties from PRS reached £2.7 million. Independent songwriters bear the brunt of this inefficiency, often lacking the resources to navigate complex claiming processes that major publishers can more easily manage.
Technology companies are stepping into this gap with innovative solutions. Firms like Muso.AI and Claimy deploy artificial intelligence to analyze metadata from multiple sources, auditing royalty statements and identifying discrepancies. These platforms can predict proper royalty allocations and streamline the claiming process, potentially recovering significant income for creators who have been overlooked by traditional systems. Claimy currently manages approximately €6 million in rights covering 160,000 works across France and the UK.
The global independent music publishing market, valued at €2.57 billion in 2023, continues to grapple with these distribution challenges despite regulatory efforts like the Music Modernization Act. While collecting societies are investing in technological improvements, industry experts emphasize that broader collaboration is essential for meaningful reform. Properly registering compositions with PROs and other rights organizations is a critical step that many creators overlook, further exacerbating the royalty distribution problem.
Streaming services have further complicated royalty distribution, often paying songwriters at lower rates compared to other stakeholders in the music industry. Classical music and other specialized genres face particular difficulties, as their unique performance patterns don’t always align with standardized royalty tracking methods. Many artists are now exploring sync deals as an alternative revenue stream to offset losses from unclaimed streaming royalties.
As streaming continues to dominate music consumption, the pressure increases on rights organizations to develop more transparent, efficient systems that guarantee creators receive fair compensation for their work.
