How to Audit Your Royalty Payments

You pour your energy into writing and recording music. But when the checks arrive, something feels off—numbers don’t match your expectations, or maybe you suspect some income is missing altogether. This isn’t just paranoia. Royalties are complicated, handled by dozens of entities between PROs, publishers, distributors, and digital platforms. Discrepancies happen more often than musicians think, and unclaimed royalties stack up fast. Auditing your royalty payments isn’t busywork—it’s mission-critical if you care about getting paid for your art.

Understanding the Royalty Reporting Chain

Before diving into an audit, it helps to grasp who’s responsible for reporting and paying your royalties. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Digital Service Providers (DSPs): Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc., report plays and sales.
• Distributors: Companies like DistroKid or CD Baby channel your music to DSPs and send regular statements.
• Publishers/Administrators: Collect and administer your composition royalties (mechanical and performance).
• Performing Rights Organizations (PROs): ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, collect performance royalties for public plays.
• Neighboring Rights Societies: Handle royalties from non-U.S. plays and performances.

Each link in this chain generates its own report. Mistakes, delays, or missing data can drop money at any step.

How to Gather Your Royalty Statements

To run a meaningful audit, you’ll need to collect all relevant royalty reports. Don’t rely on a single source.

What to Request and Download

• Quarterly royalty statements from PROs (ASCAP, BMI, etc.)
• Monthly/quarterly payout reports from your distributor
• Publishing royalty statements (Songtrust, Sentric, your publisher)
• Mechanical and digital distribution reports
• Neighboring rights payment summaries
• Manual sync licensing statements (from direct placements)

Download these as CSV files whenever possible for easier tracking and math.

Practical Tip: Set recurring calendar reminders every time a new statement is supposed to drop so you don’t miss anything.

Efficient Royalty Tracking: Spreadsheets and Apps

Whether you prefer spreadsheets or software, you need a single source of truth to cross-reference payments.

Spreadsheet Tracking Example

Columns to include:

• Date covered by report
• Song/ISRC or Work ID
• Source (PRO, DSP, distributor, etc.)
• Play counts or usages
• Reported royalty amount
• Amount paid versus expected

Regularly update the sheet with new reports. Mark discrepancies for further investigation.

Royalty Tracking Tools

If spreadsheets make your eyes glaze over, consider dedicated tools like:

• Songtrust’s reporting dashboard
• Royalty Exchange
• SyncVault
• Your distributor’s native analytics

Whichever tool you use, consistency is more important than complexity.

How to Spot Discrepancies and Find Unpaid Royalties

Once you’ve centralized your data, it’s time to compare payments. Here’s what to look for:

1. Identify Missing or Zero-Payment Lines

Scan reports for high-usage songs with shockingly low payouts, or songs that appear on some statements but not others.

Example: If “Morning Groove” shows 120,000 Spotify plays through your distributor report, but your performing rights organization shows zero performance royalties for the same quarter, you likely have a reporting gap.

2. Double-Check Rates and Territories

Rates change by territory and platform. Compare the per-stream or per-play rate in your statement against published platform rates (many DSPs post these publicly). In other words—does the math check out?

3. Match ISRCs and Titles

Inconsistent titles, misspellings, and incorrect ISRCs will lead to lost income. Ensure that every version of your song across statements uses the same identifiers.

4. Watch Out for Withholding and Fees

Some organizations withhold taxes or charge admin fees. Be clear on deductions so you aren’t mistaking a legitimate fee for a missing payment.

Steps to Audit Your Royalty Payments (Checklist)

1. Download all relevant reports (distributor, PRO, publisher, neighboring rights).
2. Aggregate data in a single sheet or app.
3. Check usage counts versus payouts for each track and period.
4. Spot inconsistencies: missing payments, zero lines, unexplained deductions.
5. Match titles, ISRCs, and songwriter credits across the ecosystem.
6. Calculate what you are owed using reported usages and published rates.
7. Prepare evidence (screenshots, sums, timelines) for communication.

What to Do If You Find Unpaid Royalties

If your audit uncovers discrepancies:

• Contact the payer directly: Start with an email to your PRO, distributor, or publisher, citing the missing royalties and providing documentation.
• Provide specific details: Attach relevant statement lines, ISRCs, and date ranges.
• Be persistent, but professional: Follow up regularly. Sometimes it takes multiple requests to escalate a claim.
• Consider legal support if you’re stonewalled, especially for substantial sums.

Every missing royalty dollar is yours by right, not by luck.

Key Takeaways & Real-World Fixes

Auditing royalty payments isn’t exciting, but it’s fundamental to a sustainable music career. Set up a simple system to collect statements, centralize data, and routinely check for red flags. There’s no badge for “Most Ignored Royalties”—take ownership, and the results can be transformative, putting real money back in your pocket. If you do spot problems, detailed documentation and polite persistence go further than angry emails ever will.

Here’s the bottom line: No one else will care as much about your money as you do. Audit your royalty payments, and treat it as non-negotiable—every quarter, every year.