---
title: Does SoundExchange collect songwriter performance royalties?
publisher: RapCanon
canonical: https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/soundexchange-pro_perf/
license: CC-BY-4.0
retrieved: 2026-08-13
---

> No. Explicit and unambiguous in its own FAQ: SoundExchange does not collect or distribute royalties for songwriters or publishers.

Royalty coverage

 
# Does SoundExchange collect songwriter performance royalties?

 
 
Does not

 
Explicit and unambiguous in its own FAQ: SoundExchange does not collect or distribute royalties for songwriters or publishers.

 
 
What this stream is. Paid when the composition is performed or broadcast. Split into a writer share and a publisher share, and those two halves can be collected by different parties.

 Worth knowing about SoundExchange - ★ The 45% featured-artist share is paid DIRECT to the artist and is legally unreachable by labels, distributors and aggregators. No distributor can collect it for you, by design.
- You are not auto-registered. Artists and recording owners MUST register to receive anything.
- Unclaimed royalties EXPIRE after three years.
- Nothing on on-demand Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube generates SoundExchange income. Artists routinely misattribute their streaming income here.
 
 
Read from SoundExchange's own documentation on 2026-08-13. Check it yourself — and if it has changed, tell us.

 
See the full matrix for all 16 organisations →

---

## How to cite this page

**APA**
RapCanon. (2026). Does SoundExchange collect songwriter performance royalties?. Retrieved from https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/soundexchange-pro_perf/

**BibTeX**
```bibtex
@misc{rapcanon-tools-royalty-coverage-soundexchange-pro,
  title  = {Does SoundExchange collect songwriter performance royalties?},
  author = {{RapCanon}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/soundexchange-pro_perf/},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-08-13}
}
```

**Wikipedia**
```
{{cite web |title=Does SoundExchange collect songwriter performance royalties? |url=https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/soundexchange-pro_perf/ |publisher=RapCanon |access-date=2026-08-13}}
```

Licensed CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution and a link back.
Canonical HTML: https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/soundexchange-pro_perf/