Answers/Glossary/Unmatched royalties
Glossary · Royalties
Unmatched royalties
Unmatched royalties are royalties a collecting society has received but cannot link to a registered work or recording. At The MLC, unmatched mechanical royalties accumulate until a correct work registration lets the usage be matched to its writers and publishers.
Matching is the invisible machinery of the royalty system. A digital service reports usage — this recording, this many plays, this month — and the collecting society has to work out which composition that recording contains and who owns it. When the society cannot make that link, the royalty is unmatched.
The failure is almost always a data failure rather than a fraud. The recording carries an ISRC but the composition was never registered, so there is no ISWC and no writer on file. Or the song title on the release is "Interlude (feat. someone)" and the registration says "Interlude." Or two writers each registered 100% of the same work, so the shares conflict and the payment freezes until the dispute resolves. Or a distributor delivered the release with the writer field blank, which is extremely common.
The MLC's public search tool lets you look up your own works and see whether usage is attaching to them. Registration with The MLC is free and there is no commission on what it pays out. Per The MLC's royalty payments FAQ, retrieved August 2026, it pays about 75 days after the end of each monthly usage period, with US minimums of $5 by ACH, $100 by check and $250 by wire.
The misunderstanding that costs the most: people assume unmatched royalties will find them eventually. They will not find you. They wait, and then unclaimed accrued royalties are distributed on a market-share basis, which favours whoever is already registered. Register the work first, then release.
Written from my own registration mistakes; verify anything consequential with a professional.
Related terms
- Black box royaltiesBlack box royalties are music royalties that were collected but could not be paid to the correct owner, usually because the work…
- The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective)The MLC is the non-profit organisation designated under the Music Modernization Act to administer the United States blanket…
- MetadataMetadata is the descriptive and rights information attached to a release: titles, artist names, writer credits, ISRCs, the UPC…
- ISWCAn ISWC, International Standard Musical Work Code, is a unique identifier for a musical composition, formatted as T followed by…
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
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