SoundExchange

What SoundExchange pays, and to whom

Each digital-performance royalty is split by statute into three shares:

• 50% to the sound-recording owner: the label, or you if you own your masters.
• 45% to the featured artist: the named performer(s) on the track.
• 5% to non-featured performers: session musicians and vocalists, paid via the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Fund.

The gap that costs artists money

Here's where money is lost: your distributor typically registers you only as the sound-recording owner, not as the featured artist. Those are two separate registrations. Until you register directly with SoundExchange as the featured artist, that ~45% share sits in SoundExchange's unclaimed pool. Plenty of artists collect the owner share for years without ever claiming the featured-artist share.

US only, and the international gap

SoundExchange covers US digital-performance plays. The equivalent royalty for plays in other countries is collected by each territory's own neighboring-rights society, so you need separate registrations abroad to collect it. See SoundExchange royalties for how to find and claim what's unclaimed.

How to make sure you're paid

1. Register directly with SoundExchange, as both the recording owner and the featured artist.
2. Make sure your recordings carry ISRCs so plays match to you.
3. For overseas plays, register with neighboring-rights societies internationally.

Notes registers your recordings with SoundExchange for both shares and reconciles what it collects, so the full neighboring-rights royalty is matched to you. Run a free royalty review to see what you're owed.

Common mistakes

• Letting your distributor's owner-only registration stand in for the featured-artist registration.
• Skipping international neighboring-rights societies, leaving overseas plays uncollected.
• Recordings without ISRCs, which can't be matched to the plays SoundExchange reports.