Every released song is actually two distinct copyrighted works living inside one file: the composition (the underlying song — melody, lyrics, chords — owned by the songwriter(s)) and the master recording (this specific captured performance of it — owned by whoever paid for and controls that recording, often the artist themselves if independent). A cover version makes this vivid: someone else can record their own master of your composition, paying you composition royalties, while owning their own separate recording copyright entirely. Nearly every registration and royalty type in this course attaches to one side or the other — keeping the split straight from the start makes everything downstream make sense.
In the US, copyright exists the moment a song is fixed in a tangible form — recorded or written down — no registration required. But formally registering with the US Copyright Office ($45 for a single work by a single author, $65 for most other single-work filings, or a group registration covering up to 20 works on one album for $65) adds real legal teeth: it's a prerequisite for suing over US infringement and unlocks statutory damages that make a case worth pursuing. The old "mail yourself a copy and don't open it" trick — sometimes called poor man's copyright — has no real legal standing and doesn't substitute for actual registration.
A distributor is what actually delivers your files to Spotify, Apple Music, and the rest — it does not touch composition royalties (that's Module 2's territory). The three common models: a flat annual subscription for unlimited uploads (DistroKid, from about $25/year, keeping 100% of your royalties; TuneCore also sells unlimited plans from about $25/year), a per-release fee that renews every year (TuneCore's pay-per-release option, about $25 a year for a single), and a one-time per-release fee with music staying live without renewals but a royalty cut on every sale (CD Baby, around $10 for a single, minus 9% of digital distribution income ongoing). Prices as of October 2026. Artists releasing four or more tracks a year usually come out ahead on a flat-fee subscription model; occasional releasers may prefer paying once and keeping the rest simple.
An ISRC code is a unique ID for one specific recording — like a serial number for that exact master, distinguishing a studio version from a live version or remix of the same song. A UPC code identifies the release package as a whole (a single or an album) the way a barcode identifies a retail product. These codes are what let platforms correctly attribute streams and sales back to you rather than losing them in the noise; most distributors assign both automatically at no extra cost, but it's worth confirming yours has, since keeping the same UPC when switching distributors preserves your existing streaming numbers on some platforms.
The moment two or more people collaborate on a song, US copyright law automatically treats it as a joint work, with every credited co-author becoming an equal co-owner by default — regardless of how much each person actually contributed — unless you've agreed otherwise in writing. A split sheet, signed before the song starts earning money, records who wrote what and each person's percentage; registering mismatched splits with different collections societies later creates real, often slow-to-fix payment disputes. Equal splits are common but not required — what matters is that everyone agrees and signs.
Two songwriters finish a track together. Split sheet (1.5): before mixing even starts, they sign a simple document: 50/50 on the composition, both credited. Copyright (1.2): they file a standard registration with the Copyright Office listing both authors. Distributor (1.3): since they plan to release four singles this year, they choose a flat-fee subscription distributor. Codes (1.4): the distributor auto-assigns an ISRC for the recording and a UPC for the release. The plumbing is in place before a single stream happens — which is exactly the point.
When someone streams your song once, up to four different royalty types can be triggered, each collected and paid by a different organization: a mechanical royalty (composition side, collected via the MLC), a performance royalty on the composition (collected by your PRO — ASCAP or BMI), a digital performance royalty on the master recording (collected by SoundExchange, but only from non-interactive services like Pandora or SiriusXM, not from on-demand services like Spotify), and your distributor's cut of streaming revenue as the master owner (paid directly by your distributor from the platform's payout). Missing a registration on any one of these means real, permanently uncollected money, not just delayed payment — most of these royalty pools don't wait indefinitely for an unclaimed rights holder to show up.
A Performing Rights Organization collects performance royalties whenever your composition is played publicly — streamed, broadcast, performed live, played in a venue. In the US, joining BMI or ASCAP as a writer has been free in recent years (fees have changed before, so check each PRO's current terms), and both pay quarterly, several months after the performances happen; SESAC is invitation-only and not generally an option for a first-time independent registrant. Joining a PRO is step one — you still have to register each individual song with them afterward so they know who to actually pay.
The Mechanical Licensing Collective is the nonprofit the US Copyright Office designated to administer mechanical royalties — owed whenever a composition is reproduced, including every stream and download in the US. If you're a self-administered songwriter (no publisher or publishing administrator handling this for you), you generally need to register directly with the MLC yourself to collect this money; if you're signed to a publisher or use a publishing admin, they typically handle it on your behalf. This is separate from, and in addition to, the PRO performance royalty in 2.2 — both come from the same stream, collected by two different organizations.
SoundExchange is the sole organization designated to collect digital performance royalties for master recordings played on non-interactive digital platforms — think satellite and internet radio, not on-demand streaming. Registration is free, and the statutory payout splits 50% to the master rights owner (you, if you're independent and own your masters), 45% directly to the featured artist, and 5% to a fund for session musicians. If you own your masters and haven't registered, this is straightforward, genuinely free money currently going uncollected.
Accurate, consistent metadata — correct songwriter names and splits, proper "feat." credits, consistent artist name spelling across releases — is what lets every organization in this module actually match a stream back to the right people. Sloppy or inconsistent metadata across your Copyright Office filing, PRO registration, MLC registration, and distributor listing is one of the most common, entirely preventable reasons independent artists lose royalties they're legitimately owed.
Mastering — the final technical pass that balances loudness, tonal consistency, and translation across playback systems — happens after mixing and before distribution, and most streaming platforms apply their own loudness normalization on top of it, so an overly loud, over-compressed master often doesn't actually sound louder to the listener, just more squashed. Confirm your final file meets your distributor's specific format and sample-rate requirements before uploading — a rejected or reprocessed upload can cost you a carefully planned release date.
Self-administering (handling PRO, MLC, and licensing registrations yourself) costs nothing but your own time and diligence. A publishing administrator handles this infrastructure for a percentage cut (commonly around 10–20%) while you keep ownership of your copyrights. A traditional publishing deal goes further — often including an advance — but typically means giving up partial or full ownership of your compositions in exchange. As your catalog grows, the administrative burden of self-administering many songs across multiple territories is usually what tips artists toward an admin deal, not dissatisfaction with self-administering itself.
Sync licensing is permission to pair your music with visual media — film, TV, ads, games — and it requires two separate licenses, one for the composition and one for the master, which is exactly why the split from Lesson 1.1 matters so much here: a sync supervisor needs to know precisely who controls both sides before they can even make an offer. Clean, accurate, fully registered metadata (2.5) is often the single biggest practical factor in whether a supervisor can clear your song quickly enough to make a deadline versus passing entirely.
PROs worldwide have reciprocal agreements with each other, so a US-based PRO can typically collect performance royalties earned abroad on your behalf and vice versa — but this depends on accurate registration and can involve real delays across borders. If a meaningful share of your streams come from outside the US, it's worth confirming your PRO's specific reciprocal coverage rather than assuming international royalties arrive automatically and promptly.
The most frequent, entirely preventable leaks: mismatched splits registered differently across platforms (1.5, 2.5), a self-administered songwriter who never registered with the MLC (2.3) and is leaving mechanical royalties completely uncollected, an independent master owner who never registered with SoundExchange (2.4), and inconsistent ISRC codes when a release moves between distributors, breaking the chain platforms use to attribute historical streams. None of these require legal help to fix — they require the specific registrations from Module 2 actually being done and kept consistent.
A single spreadsheet per release — tracking split percentages, registration status with each organization from Module 2, ISRC/UPC codes, and release date — turns an easy-to-lose mental checklist into something you can actually audit later when a royalty statement looks off. This doesn't need to be sophisticated; it needs to exist and be updated every time you release something.
A music attorney is worth the cost for a genuine split dispute, a publishing deal negotiation, or a sync deal with real money on the table — not for routine registrations, which this course's process covers directly. A publishing administrator (3.1) becomes worth its cut once your catalog and registration workload have grown past what you can reliably keep current yourself. Getting help at the right moment is a sign of a growing catalog, not a failure to have handled things independently up to that point.
A realistic starting plan, not everything in this course at once.
Distributor pricing reflects DistroKid's and TuneCore's own pricing pages and widely reported CD Baby rates, as of October 2026. PRO registration terms reflect current ASCAP and BMI public documentation. MLC and mechanical royalty details reflect current Mechanical Licensing Collective (themlc.com) documentation, established under the Music Modernization Act. SoundExchange royalty splits and registration terms reflect current SoundExchange public documentation. US Copyright Office fees reflect current published 2026 fee schedules. This is educational content, not a substitute for a music attorney or publishing administrator reviewing your specific contracts or disputes.
🌐 The MLC (themlc.com), SoundExchange (soundexchange.com), and your chosen PRO's own sites — the authoritative, regularly updated sources for registration and current rates
🌐 US Copyright Office (copyright.gov) — official registration and current fee schedules
📘 All You Need to Know About the Music Business — Donald Passman (a comprehensive, widely recommended industry-mechanics reference)
🌐 Related piece in this series: How to Market Your Music, the companion course on getting your registered, properly paid music actually heard