Impact Audit Report
Your music earns money in more than one place.
Each royalty system has its own registration. Answer 18 questions and see which ones you have set up, and which ones you have not.
Free. About 2 minutes. No credit card to see your score.
Built by a royalty executive with 20+ years in music publishing, licensing, and royalty administration, including director roles at Warner Music Group.
One song. Two copyrights. Separate payers.
The song and the recording are different copyrights, paid by different organizations. Registering with one does not register you with another.
The song (composition)
- Performance royalties: paid through performing rights organizations when songs are played or performed.
- Mechanical royalties: U.S. digital mechanicals are collected by The MLC. Physical and download formats go through the Harry Fox Agency or a publishing administrator.
The MLC has distributed more than $4.2B since 2021, and reports roughly $160M in pre-2021 streaming royalties not yet matched and paid.Source: The MLC
The recording (master)
- Digital performance royalties: collected by SoundExchange for recordings played on services such as satellite and internet radio.
- International neighboring rights: royalties paid to performers when recordings are broadcast abroad.
- YouTube Content ID: identifies uses of your recordings on YouTube.
SoundExchange distributed nearly $1B in 2025.Source: SoundExchange
Figures as published by The MLC and SoundExchange. Check their websites for current numbers. These are industry totals, not an estimate of what you are owed.
Four areas. Eighteen checks.
The assessment covers the registrations that most often get missed, and the records that make them work.
Master recording royalties · 6 checks
SoundExchange registration, ISRCs, UPCs, distributor statement matching, international neighboring rights, and YouTube Content ID.
Mechanical royalties · 4 checks
A publishing administration account, The MLC membership, claiming your works, and mechanicals for physical and download formats.
Performance royalties · 3 checks
Performing rights organization membership, song-level registration, and reporting live setlists.
Rights protection · 5 checks
Split sheets, consistent metadata, one place for all your registrations, U.S. Copyright Office registration, and song-level confirmation with your PRO.
A guide explains. An audit shows you.
General guides are useful for learning how royalties work. This is different: it starts from your answers.
Starts from
Same for every reader?
Tells you
Next steps
Format
Every gap gets the same six-part explanation.
Your personalized Impact Audit Report tells you:
- AWhat each gap means
- BWhy It Matters
- CYour Risk
- DIndustry Standard
- EWhat to Do
- FBottom Line
Sample from report
All my recordings have ISRCs assigned
What this means
Every individual recording you have released carries a unique International Standard Recording Code — and you know what those codes are.
Why it matters
The ISRC is the fingerprint of a recording. Streaming platforms, SoundExchange, Content ID, radio monitoring, and chart reporting all use it to identify plays and attribute income. Without a consistent ISRC, plays of your recording may be untracked or attributed elsewhere.
Your risk
Distributors normally assign ISRCs automatically, so codes usually exist — the problem is that most artists have never recorded them. Pull the ISRC list from your distributor dashboard and confirm one unique code per recording, that re-releases reuse the original code, and that different versions (radio edit, remix, live) each have their own distinct code.
Industry standard
One ISRC per unique recording, permanently. A remix, live version, or edit is a different recording and gets a different ISRC. A remaster of the same recording generally keeps its original ISRC — a new code is only warranted if the remaster involves significant new creative work, not just a technical cleanup. A song re-released on a compilation keeps its original ISRC. Codes can be assigned by your distributor or issued directly by your national ISRC agency (in the U.S., the RIAA) if you want to control your own registrant prefix.
What to do
- Export the ISRC list for your full catalog from your distributor.
- Confirm every recording has exactly one code and no code is duplicated across different recordings.
- Record all codes in your central registration log (see Q16).
- Check that alternate versions have their own separate codes.
- Supply ISRCs whenever you register with SoundExchange, The MLC, or Content ID.
Bottom line
Your recordings are not fully covered by ISRCs, or you do not have the codes on record. The ISRC is the unique identifier that streaming platforms, SoundExchange, YouTube Content ID, and radio monitoring services use to recognize your recording and route income to you — without it, plays can go untracked or be credited to the wrong party. Export the ISRC list from your distributor, confirm one unique code per recording (with separate codes for remixes, live versions, and edits — but keeping the same code on unchanged remasters and re-releases), and store the full list in your central registration record so it stays a single source of truth as your catalog grows.
This is a real sample entry from the report.
The offer
You see your score and a brief gap summary before you pay anything. Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not see or store your card details.
What this is not
- We do not collect royalties for you or take a commission. You handle registrations and claims directly.
- The report finds gaps. It does not predict how much money you will recover. That depends on your catalog.
- This is education, not legal advice. For copyright and contract questions, talk to a qualified attorney.