Are You Missing Out on Royalties? Discover the Hidden Treasure

Want to know something that keeps me up at night? The amount of money musicians leave on the table because they don't understand music royalties. I've helped artists recover thousands of dollars they didn't even know they were owed. Let me walk you through this—it's not as complicated as the industry makes it seem.

Music royalties are literally money you've earned but might not be collecting. When your song plays on Spotify, gets covered by another artist, or gets used in a commercial, you're owed payment. But here's the catch: these payments come through different channels—performance royalties, mechanical royalties, sync royalties, neighboring rights. Each has its own collection system.

The biggest mistake I see? Artists not joining a performing rights organization (PRO) like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. Without PRO membership, you're not collecting when your music plays on radio, in venues, or on streaming services. That's real money evaporating.

Then there's international royalties. Your music might be playing in Germany or Japan, generating income you'll never see unless you've registered properly. Most PROs only collect domestically—you need additional services to capture worldwide earnings.

Song registration errors are shockingly common. Misspelled names, incorrect splits between co-writers, missing publisher info—these mistakes delay or completely block payments. I've seen writers lose out on sync licensing opportunities worth tens of thousands because their metadata was incomplete.

Here's what protects you: Understanding that if you wrote the song, you're owed writer royalties. If you recorded it, you're owed performer royalties. If you own the recording, you're owed master rights income. These are separate revenue streams, and you need systems to track all of them.

Managing all this while trying to create music and build your career? It's overwhelming. This is where platforms like Bandmate.co help—by organizing your business operations, you have mental space to actually handle complex financial matters like royalty collection properly. Because unclaimed royalties aren't just money—they're validation that your music matters and reaches people.