Music Catalog Audit 2026: A Weekend Walk-Through

Most independent songwriters never audit their catalog. They check Spotify numbers, glance at the distributor dashboard, and assume the rest of the money is arriving somewhere. It often isn't. A music catalog audit is the simple, unglamorous habit of checking every song against every place it should be earning, and it's the fastest way to find royalties you're owed but not collecting.

This guide is a practical walk-through you can finish in a weekend. No consultants, no jargon, and no assumption that your metadata is clean (it probably isn't, and that's the point).

What Is a Music Catalog Audit?

A catalog audit compares three things for every song you've released:

1. What exists: the songs, recordings, writers, and splits that are true in real life.
2. What's registered: what the MLC, SoundExchange, your PRO, and your distributor have on file.
3. What's paid: what has actually shown up on statements.

Gaps between those three lists are where money disappears. A missing writer share, a recording with no registered ISRC, a song your PRO never heard about, or a split that doesn't add up to 100% can all leave royalties sitting unpaid. The MLC itself has said it will begin market-share distributions of unmatched and unclaimed royalties starting in April 2027, so money that stays unclaimed doesn't wait for you forever. It eventually gets redistributed to others based on market share.

Why 2026 Is the Year to Do This

Three things make an audit more urgent than it used to be:

• The unmatched clock is running. Historical unmatched mechanical royalties are headed for market-share distribution. Claiming before then means the money comes to you, not to larger publishers.
• Your income is spread across more systems. Mechanical, performance, digital performance, sync, neighboring rights, and print each have their own registration. Missing one doesn't trigger a warning. You just don't get paid.
• Metadata drift is constant. Distributors re-deliver, titles get changed, and co-writers register their share differently than you did.

Before You Start: Build Your Master Sheet

Open a spreadsheet and create one row per song-recording pair. Columns to include:

This sheet is the backbone of everything below. If you have 20 songs, it takes an hour. If you have 200, it's a weekend, and it's worth it. Tools like RoyaltyCoPilot.ai exist to automate exactly this comparison across your catalog so you aren't doing it cell by cell.

Step 1: Verify Your Core Identifiers

Everything else depends on clean identifiers.

ISRCs

The ISRC identifies a specific recording. Confirm every release has one, that each ISRC is unique to one recording (not reused across a single and an album version incorrectly), and that the same ISRC appears in your distributor, SoundExchange, and the MLC. Different versions (radio edit, instrumental, remix) should have different ISRCs.

ISWCs and song titles

Titles should match exactly across systems. "Midnight (Remix)" and "Midnight - Remix" can fail to match automatically. When in doubt, use the exact release title.

Writer names and IPI numbers

Write down the legal name and IPI number for every writer, including yourself. Stage names cause more mismatches than almost anything else. If your PRO has you under your legal name but your distributor credits your stage name, matching gets harder.

Step 2: Audit the MLC (Mechanical Royalties)

The MLC collects and pays digital mechanical royalties for songs streamed and downloaded in the US. It only pays what it can match, and it can only match what's registered.

What to check:

1. Are you a member with a verified account? Both self-published writers and publishers register works through the MLC portal.
2. Is every song registered as a work? Search by title and by ISRC in the MLC public search.
3. Do the shares add up to 100%? Incomplete or conflicting shares leave works unmatched or held.
4. Is any song showing a conflict or overclaim? Disputed shares pause payment until resolved.
5. Are your recordings linked? A registered work with no linked recording can still miss usage matches.

Watch for "partial" matches. A song with only 50% of the writer share claimed pays you that 50%, and the rest sits as unmatched, waiting for whoever registers it. If you co-wrote, make sure your co-writer is registered too. It helps both of you.

Step 3: Audit SoundExchange (Digital Performance)

SoundExchange pays sound recording royalties from non-interactive digital radio: satellite radio, internet radio, and similar services. It pays the recording side, split between the rights owner and the featured artist.

What to check:

• Is your ISRC repertoire registered under a SoundExchange account?
• Are you registered as both rights owner and featured artist if you own your masters? Many indies register one side and never see the other.
• Are non-featured performers (session players, background vocalists) and producers handled through letters of direction where applicable?
• Does your registered payee info and tax paperwork match?

If you released music for several years before ever creating a SoundExchange account, check for older balances tied to your ISRCs. Do it sooner rather than later, because unclaimed funds don't sit forever.

Step 4: Audit Your PRO (Public Performance)

ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR collect public performance royalties on the composition side: radio, TV, venues, streaming performance, and more.

What to check:

1. Is each song registered with the correct writer splits? Your PRO's repertoire search shows what's on file.
2. Does your PRO's split match your co-writer's PRO? If you list 50/50 and your co-writer lists 60/40, expect a conflict hold.
3. Is your publisher share registered? Writers often register the writer share and forget the publisher share entirely, which leaves up to half of the performance income unclaimed. If you self-publish, you need a publishing entity registered with the PRO, too.
4. Are live performances reported? Many PROs pay for live shows when you submit setlists.
5. Did sync placements get cue sheets filed? A TV placement without a cue sheet can pay you nothing for the performance.

Step 5: Audit Your Distributor and Statements

Your distributor handles the master-side payouts from streaming platforms, but it's also where metadata problems start.

• Credits: Confirm songwriter credits are filled in correctly on each release. Missing writers make downstream matching harder.
• Splits: If you use distributor splits, check that they total 100% and reflect your actual agreements.
• Fees and thresholds: Review any minimum-stream or artificial-streaming fees that could be reducing payouts on small tracks.
• Publishing add-ons: If you pay for a publishing admin service, confirm it's actually registering works with the MLC and PROs rather than assuming it does.

Then compare. Pick three songs and trace one quarter of income from the distributor statement to the MLC statement to the PRO statement. If a song streams well but one of the three shows nothing, you've found a gap.

Step 6: Hunt the Less Obvious Streams

Once the big four are clean, check the streams that are easy to forget:

• YouTube: Content ID and the composition-side claims are separate from MLC income.
• Neighboring rights: Foreign performance income for your recordings may be collected by overseas societies.
• Foreign mechanicals and sub-publishing: Overseas streams generate income that US registrations alone won't catch.
• Sample and interpolation credits: If you used a sample, confirm who is registered as owner of what.
• Print and lyric income: Small but real for some songwriters.

You don't need to solve all of these in one weekend. Just note which ones apply to you in your master sheet and tackle them over the next few months.

Common Red Flags That Mean Money Is Missing

How to Fix What You Find

Triage your list by dollar impact, not by what's easiest.

1. Register missing works first. Unregistered songs earning streams are the highest-impact fix.
2. Correct splits and resolve conflicts. Talk to your co-writers, agree on the real split, and update every system to match.
3. Add missing publisher shares. Especially at your PRO.
4. Register on the sound recording side. SoundExchange, both roles.
5. Document everything. Keep split sheets, contracts, and screenshots. Disputes resolve faster with paperwork.

Expect lag. Registrations can take weeks to process, and back payments typically arrive on a later distribution cycle rather than immediately. Note the date you fixed each item so you can follow up.

How Often Should You Audit?

A full audit once a year is a solid baseline. A lightweight check after every new release takes ten minutes: confirm the ISRC, register the work with the MLC, add it to your PRO and SoundExchange, and record the splits. That discipline prevents most problems before they exist.

If you'd rather not maintain a spreadsheet, RoyaltyCoPilot.ai runs a free catalog audit that flags missing registrations and mismatched data across the MLC, SoundExchange, and your PRO, so you can see what needs fixing without building the comparison yourself.

Your Weekend Audit Checklist

• Build the master sheet with ISRC, writers, splits, and owners
• Confirm every ISRC and title is consistent
• Search each song in the MLC public search and confirm 100% of shares are claimed
• Confirm SoundExchange registration for both rights owner and featured artist
• Confirm PRO registration with writer and publisher shares
• Compare co-writer registrations against yours
• Trace one quarter of income across distributor, MLC, and PRO statements
• List the less obvious streams that apply to you
• Fix, document, and calendar a follow-up in 60 days

The Bottom Line

Royalties don't chase you. They go where the registrations point, and anything unmatched eventually gets redistributed. An audit costs you a weekend and can turn up money that's been sitting there for years. Run the audit, fix the gaps, and make registration part of every release going forward. For a faster start, RoyaltyCoPilot.ai can scan your catalog and show you where the gaps are.

This article is general education, not legal or tax advice. Check current rules with the MLC, SoundExchange, and your PRO before acting.