When Should You Hire a Royalty Accountant?

For musicians and rights holders in 2025, money management isn’t just about hustling more gigs or pushing out tracks. The real money can slip through the cracks—buried in confusing contracts, unclaimed royalties, or outdated spreadsheets. Every dollar missed adds up, and if you’re striving to build a sustainable music career, that shouldn’t be acceptable business as usual.

This is where a royalty accountant steps in. Not every artist or label needs one right out the gate, but knowing when to bring one on can be a game changer. Let’s break down exactly what a royalty accountant does, who actually needs one, and the moments in your career when the investment pays for itself.

What Does a Royalty Accountant Do?

A royalty accountant is a financial pro who specializes in cataloging, tracking, and verifying royalty payments for musicians, publishers, labels, and composers. Their entire job is to make sure you’re paid what you’re owed—from streaming platforms to sync licenses to performance rights organizations (PROs) and mechanicals.

Key roles include:

• Tracking and auditing royalty payments from multiple sources
• Detecting missing or underpaid royalties through forensic accounting
• Advising on music finance help and best practices
• Navigating international royalty collection
• Supporting or leading royalty audits (especially if you suspect underpayment from a label or distributor)
• Building royalty income statements for clear cash flow management

A royalty accountant isn’t “just a CPA”—they understand the tangled web of music income streams and the weird metadata and statement quirks that come with each. They’re equal parts number cruncher and industry insider.

Signs It’s Time to Hire a Royalty Accountant

You won’t need a full-time royalty accountant from your first single drop. But, ignoring the need for professional management of your music income can leave real money on the table. Here’s how to know it’s time to bring one onto your indie artist team:

1. Your Catalog or Income Is Growing

Did you just land a significant sync placement, sign a co-publishing deal, or notice your stream counts jumping? More tracks or more revenue equals a higher risk of accounting errors, unclaimed royalties, and “taken for granted” deductions. A royalty accountant manages rapid growth so you aren’t flying blind.

2. You Receive Royalty Statements from Multiple Sources

If you’re gathering checks or statements from different PROs (ASCAP, BMI, SOCAN…), mechanical agencies, administrators, neighboring rights collectives, and international societies, mistakes multiply. It’s easy to lose track, especially across currencies and quarterly versus semi-annual payments.

A royalty accountant can centralize, reconcile, and check these statements for errors or hidden fees.

3. You Suspect Underpayment (or Overcharges)

Noticed a drop or inconsistency in your royalty income? Agreements aren’t always honored to the letter, and mistakes are far more common than you might think. A royalty auditor will line-by-line everything from reported streams to sync splits, flagging anything suspicious or incomplete. For bigger catalogues or historic income, a royalty audit may recover thousands—or more—by fighting back against missed payments.

4. You’re Considering a Catalog Sale or Large Contract

Due diligence on catalog sales means knowing every penny your assets are worth. Any uncertainty (bad metadata, uncollected or misreported income) will directly lower your sale price. A royalty accountant can comb the historical data and present a clear, defendable picture to interested buyers or partners.

5. You Just Don’t Have the Time or Energy

If you’re spending more hours on Excel than composing, mixing, or gigging, it’s time to hand off the admin. The opportunity cost isn’t just in missed royalties—it’s in lost creativity. Investing in professional management lets you put the “artist” back in artist-manager.

Real-World Scenarios: Should You DIY or Level Up?

• Early-career indie releasing through one main distributor: Use royalty accounting software (like Curve or Label Engine) and track manually. No need for a full accountant unless your numbers or deals grow fast.
• Small publisher managing multiple writers: Strongly consider getting a royalty accountant—or at least schedule quarterly audits.
• Producer or songwriter with international placements: Bring on royalty finance help for navigating overseas collection societies and currency exchanges.
• Artist with doubts about label statements: Initiate a royalty audit, likely with a specialist or forensic accountant with music industry experience.
• Preparing for a catalog sale or VC investment: Hire a royalty accountant with a proven track record; investors will demand verified, clean books.

What to Look For in a Royalty Accountant

Hiring the right person for your indie artist team isn’t about finding the cheapest option. Prioritize:

• Music industry experience (ideally with your genre or scale)
• Familiarity with key royalty platforms and tools
• Proven success with royalty audits and contract negotiations
• Awake to new income streams—whether you’re in web3, sync, or traditional models

Ask for referrals from other artists, publishers, or managers. Interview them like you would any specialist—review their past wins and find out how they keep up with the changing tech.

Next Steps: Maximizing Music Income with Real Oversight

Royalty accountants aren’t just for major labels or legacy acts—they’re for any creator who wants to fully own their music finance journey. If you’re at a tipping point where admin and uncertainty threaten your creative, now is the time to invest. Getting professional management early can recover lost income, future-proof your catalog, and—most importantly—give you back your time to create.

Have your contracts reviewed, your last 4–6 royalty statements handy, and set up a consultation to see what opportunities (or missing money) might be hiding in plain sight.