Tool
Which royalties does your distributor actually collect?
The short answer: almost certainly not all of them, and the gap is structural rather than anyone cheating you. One stream generates several separate payments, and a distribution deal buys you one of them. An artist can be correctly distributed and still be missing 100% of their US mechanicals, 100% of their songwriter performance royalties, and at least the 45% featured-artist share of their neighbouring rights — because no distributor is allowed to collect that last one at all.
This page lists what 16 named organisations say they collect, taken from their own documentation rather than from a comparison blog. 105 of 128 cells are sourced. 23 say not published, which means we could not source it, not that the answer is no.
The full matrix
Every organisation, every stream
Read across a row to see what one organisation covers. Read down a column to see who covers one stream — the neighbouring rights column is the one worth reading down first, because it is mostly empty for a reason the law puts there.
| Organisation | Master streaming royalties | US mechanical royalties | International mechanical royalties | Performance royalties (songwriter) | Neighbouring rights / SoundExchange | YouTube Content ID | YouTube publishing | Sync licensing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DistroKiddistributor | CollectsCore service. DistroKid states artists keep 100% of the master streaming royalties it collects. | Paid add-onNot included in standard distribution. Covered only by the separate paid DistroKid Publishing product. | Paid add-onSame — publishing product only. | PartlyThe publishing add-on collects the PUBLISHER share only. The writer share is paid by your PRO directly to you, so with no PRO affiliation nobody collects it at all. | Not publishedSoundExchange is not documented anywhere in DistroKid's published material. Treat your SoundExchange registration as your own job until they say otherwise. | CollectsOffered, with a revenue share taken on the Content ID income. | Not publishedNot separately documented from the recording side. | Contradicts self⚠ DistroKid's own materials both describe collecting sync income AND state the service does not include sync licensing. Their copy contradicts itself; do not rely on either sentence. |
| TuneCoredistributor | CollectsCore service. | Paid add-onHandled by TuneCore's separate publishing administration product, not by distribution. | Paid add-onPublishing administration product. | PartlyPublisher share only, stated in plain text in TuneCore's own documentation. The writer share continues to be paid to you by your PRO. | Does notTuneCore explicitly disclaims SoundExchange collection. Register yourself. | CollectsOffered as part of its YouTube monetisation service. | Paid add-onVia the publishing administration product. | Paid add-onRepresented through the publishing side rather than distribution. |
| CD Babydistributor | CollectsCore service. | Does not⚠ CD Baby Pro Publishing was DISCONTINUED in August 2023. The current CDB Boost product does not replace it. | Does notNot collected since Pro Publishing ended. | Does notNot collected since Pro Publishing ended. Join a PRO directly. | PartlyThe only company in this group that collects any SoundExchange money — and it collects the 50% RIGHTS-OWNER share only. The 45% featured-artist share still requires your own SoundExchange registration. | CollectsOffered. | Does notNot collected since Pro Publishing ended. | Does notNot collected since Pro Publishing ended. |
| UnitedMastersdistributor | CollectsCore service. | Paid add-onThrough its publishing offering rather than base distribution. | Paid add-onPublishing offering. | PartlyPublisher share only. Your PRO still pays your writer share. | Does notTreated as a third-party matter — your SoundExchange registration is your own. | CollectsOffered. | Not publishedNot separately documented. | CollectsSync placement is a core part of the UnitedMasters proposition. |
| Ditto Musicdistributor | CollectsCore service. | Paid add-onThrough the separate publishing product. Whether that includes direct MLC registration is not documented. | Paid add-onPublishing product; the specific societies are not named in its published material. | PartlyPublisher share only, stated plainly in Ditto's own documentation. | Does notExplicitly disclaimed. Register with SoundExchange yourself. | CollectsOffered; the commission rate is not clearly published. | Paid add-onPublishing product. | Paid add-onPublishing product. |
| Amusedistributor | Collects100% on all paid tiers — except YouTube Content ID. ⚠ If your subscription lapses, a 25% commission applies to keep releases live. | Not publishedThe MLC is named nowhere in Amuse's published material. Its international partner's rollout is described as covering the world OUTSIDE the US, so the US gap appears unaddressed — but Amuse has not said so, and this dataset does not infer it. | CollectsVia an announced partnership with the global digital collection society AMRA, covering 200+ territories. Commission rate and current live status are not published. | Does notStated outright: Amuse pays the artist, NOT the writers. Join your PRO directly. | Not publishedSoundExchange and neighbouring rights appear nowhere in Amuse's published material. | PartlyIncluded at no cost on the two higher tiers; a 15% fee applies on the entry tier. The release must also be delivered to YouTube Music or nothing is collected. | Not publishedNot separated from the recording side anywhere in its documentation. | Does notNot offered on self-serve plans. |
| ASCAPpro | Does notASCAP licenses compositions, not sound recordings. Members grant it only the right to license non-dramatic performances of their musical works. | Does notStated by ASCAP itself: mechanical royalties from streams, downloads and physical sales are NOT collected by performing rights organisations. ASCAP runs a page whose whole purpose is telling members to join The MLC separately. | Does notIts foreign agreements are performing-rights reciprocals only. | CollectsCore function. Distribution is 50% writer share and 50% publisher share, paid four times a year, including international via reciprocal agreements with foreign societies. | Does notA master-side right, outside ASCAP's grant of rights entirely. | Does notContent ID is a sound-recording tool. ASCAP holds no master rights. | PartlyYouTube pays ASCAP a licensing fee for the performance of members' music. This is the PERFORMANCE slice only, not the YouTube reproduction/mechanical component. | Does notASCAP does not license synchronisation. It collects the performance royalties that arise from a sync placement being broadcast, never the sync fee itself. |
| BMIpro | Does notBMI royalties are performing-right royalties on musical works. | Does notBMI states plainly that mechanical royalties and synchronisation fees are paid directly to the copyright owner, not through BMI. | Does notIts foreign reciprocals cover performance only. | CollectsCore function, including international through reciprocal agreements with foreign societies. Foreign performance money lags 12 to 18 months. | Does notA master-side right, not a BMI function. | Does notOutside BMI's rights. | PartlyBMI licenses internet streaming as public performance. Performance slice only. | Does notSynchronisation fees go directly to copyright owners and publishers, not through BMI. |
| SESACpro | Does notLicenses public performance of non-dramatic musical works. Compositions only. | PartlyNot by SESAC itself. The Harry Fox Agency is a separate company under the same parent and a NON-EXCLUSIVE mechanical agent with its own eligibility bar. Since the MMA, US digital mechanicals run through The MLC's blanket licence regardless. | Not publishedNot addressed in SESAC's public material. | CollectsCore function. | Not publishedNot addressed in its own materials. | Not publishedNot addressed. | Not publishedImplied by scope but not itemised anywhere public. | Not publishedIts grant is non-dramatic performance. No sync terms are published. |
| SoundExchangesociety | Does notCovers NON-interactive services only: satellite radio, webcasting, digital cable. On-demand Spotify and Apple Music streams are licensed directly by labels and distributors and are outside SoundExchange entirely. | Does notA composition right, not SoundExchange's remit. | Does notSame. | Does notExplicit and unambiguous in its own FAQ: SoundExchange does not collect or distribute royalties for songwriters or publishers. | CollectsCore function, and the only US body that does it. The split is set by statute, not by policy: 50% to the sound recording owner, 45% direct to the featured artist, 2.5% to non-featured musicians and 2.5% to non-featured vocalists. | Does notExplicitly excluded. SoundExchange does not collect for videos or other visual media including YouTube. | Does notSame exclusion, and songwriters are out of scope entirely. | Does notStatutory non-interactive performance only. |
| The MLCsociety | Does notThe MLC states it is not involved in record royalties, public performance, or synchronisation. | CollectsSole core function. The blanket mechanical licence for US interactive audio streaming and downloads. | Does notUnited States only. It does not collect from DSPs outside the US. | Does notExplicit: The MLC does not administer performance rights or collect performance royalties. | Does notA master right, excluded as record royalties. | Does notA master-side tool, entirely outside scope. | PartlyYouTube MUSIC, the interactive audio service, is covered by the blanket licence. Standard YouTube video, UGC, TikTok and Facebook reproduction royalties are NOT, and need a publishing administrator. | Does notExplicitly excluded. |
| Songtrustadmin | Does notMaster-generated royalties are handled by distributors, not by Songtrust. | CollectsRegisters works with The MLC. Falls in its 20% commission bucket. | CollectsWorldwide mechanical, 60+ collection societies, same 20% bucket. | PartlySongtrust is explicitly NOT a PRO. It administers the PUBLISHER share; your PRO still pays your writer share directly. You still need ASCAP or BMI. | Does notA master right. Songtrust collects no master-generated royalties. | Does notRecording side, not administered. | CollectsOffered as part of worldwide publishing administration, on the composition side. | PartlyTakes no exclusive sync rights and does NOT pitch or place. It forwards inbound requests and charges its standard rate if asked to administer the licence. |
| Kobalt / KOSIGNadmin | Does notKobalt Music Publishing is a publishing company. The recording-side business was divested. | Not publishedMarketed as global registration across territories and platforms, with no per-royalty-type breakdown published. | PartlySourced only at the level of global registration across territories. Its own collection society licenses DSPs directly and globally, but no itemised breakdown is published. | Not publishedNot itemised on the public page. | Does notKobalt's neighbouring rights division was SOLD to Sony Music along with AWAL. Kobalt no longer has one. | Not publishedNot published. | PartlyCites direct global licences with major streaming and social platforms. | Not publishedThe full-service tier has a sync team. No published self-serve terms. |
| Symphonic Distributiondistributor | CollectsCore service. | PartlyOnly if you separately take publishing administration, which is delivered THROUGH SONGTRUST. Not included in plain distribution. | PartlySame Songtrust-powered add-on. | PartlyVia the same opt-in add-on, not via distribution. | PartlyOpt-in enrolment, and it can collect the recording OWNER share only. Symphonic states outright that SoundExchange does not allow any third party to claim the featured-artist portion. | PartlyOpt-in, requires Symphonic distribution, reviewed by their team and can be rejected. Symphonic typically retains around 30% of Content ID revenue. | Not publishedFalls under the publishing add-on and is not itemised. | PartlyOffered via a separate brand as an approval-gated add-on at separate rates. |
| Stemdistributor | CollectsCore distribution business. | Not publishedNot obtainable from public primary sources. | Not publishedNot obtainable. | Not publishedNot obtainable. | Not publishedNot obtainable. | Not publishedThird-party listings claim an integration, but no primary source was found, so this is not recorded as a yes. | Not publishedNot obtainable. | Not publishedNot obtainable. |
| Believedistributor | Collects100+ streaming platforms. | PartlyDistribution alone does NOT collect them. Its artist-facing subsidiary works directly with The MLC only for publishing-administration clients, and only once compositions are registered in the publishing dashboard. | CollectsWith publishing. Its network collects performance, digital and mechanical royalties in over 200 territories. | PartlyPublisher share only. The writer share is paid directly by your local PRO. | Does notIts artist-facing subsidiary describes SoundExchange as something you may be eligible to collect YOURSELF. No collection service is offered. | CollectsOperates Content ID across YouTube and Meta with a dedicated team. | CollectsFlags explicitly that YouTube reproduction royalties are OUTSIDE The MLC and must come via publishing administration. | CollectsActively pitches. Its DIY tier pitches at a 50% commission on the licence fee. |
Why the gaps exist
Three organisations, three payments, one stream
A single stream of a song you wrote and recorded generates payments on separate tracks. The recording earns a master royalty, which your distributor collects. The composition earns a mechanical, which in the US flows through the statutory blanket licence to The MLC and is paid to whoever registered the work. The same composition earns a performance royalty through ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, split into a writer half and a publisher half that different parties can collect. And non-interactive play of the recording earns a fourth payment through SoundExchange.
Those bodies do not talk to each other on your behalf, and none of them is a fallback for the others. The Copyright Office's own FAQ covers the statutory half; the rest is a membership question you have to answer body by body.
The four sentences worth keeping
- A PRO does not pay mechanicals, and The MLC does not pay performance. They are mirror images, and each publishes that fact about itself.
- The 45% featured-artist share at SoundExchange cannot be collected by any distributor, by statute. It is paid direct to the artist, which means an unregistered artist is the only reason it goes unpaid.
- "Keep 100%" is a statement about the master side at every company in this matrix that says it. Publishing and user-generated content are where the share is taken.
- Unmatched mechanicals do not wait forever. After about three years they are distributed to publishers on a market-share basis, so unregistered independent money ends up with major publishers.
Method and limits
Every cell is sourced to the named organisation's OWN published documentation — its help centre, pricing page, or official newsroom. No blog, review site or comparison article was used as the source for any cell; secondary sources were used only to locate candidate primary URLs. A cell with no primary source ships as UNKNOWN rather than inferred from a competitor's behaviour or from what the company appears to imply.
- Coverage changes. Companies add and remove services, and a stale cell here costs a reader money, so every cell carries the date it was read.
- UNKNOWN means we could not source it, NOT that the answer is no. Several UNKNOWN cells are probably 'no', but this dataset does not guess.
- Plan tiers change names and prices. Where a company has renamed or retired a tier, that is recorded as a trap rather than silently updated.
- This dataset covers what an organisation COLLECTS. It does not rate them, rank them, or recommend one.
Compare specific distributors side by side →
Data read 2026-08-13. Open dataset under CC-BY-4.0 at /datasets/royalty-coverage/. If a cell here is wrong or has gone stale, tell us and the correction is dated and the original stays visible.
No part of this page is for sale. Nothing here is affiliate-linked, no organisation paid to appear or to be described a particular way, and the outbound links are marked so they pass no ranking benefit. A coverage matrix anyone can buy into measures nothing.