Myths & Mistakes — What quietly costs artists royalties

Six common myths

What people believe vs. what's true.

Myth 01

✗“I'm on Spotify, so I'm covered.”

✓Being on streaming handles one slice: the streaming money for your recording. It doesn't register your song with PRS or MCPS, or your recording with PPL — so radio play, public play and the song's own royalties are still sitting uncollected.

Myth 02

✗“My distributor handles all of this.”

✓Your distributor puts the recording into shops and collects its streaming income. It does not register your composition with a society. Some sell publishing admin as a separate add-on, but the basic service doesn't — and the song side is often the bigger pot over a career.

Myth 03

✗“I'll sort it out once I'm bigger.”

✓You generally can't backdate collection to before you were a member. Every play while you're unregistered is usually gone for good. The cheapest possible time to register is now, before the plays happen.

Myth 04

✗“I'm with PRS, so I'm all set.”

✓PRS covers the song's performance side only. The recording (PPL) and the mechanical side (MCPS) are separate bodies with separate sign-ups. Writers who also perform routinely miss PPL's broadcast and public-performance money entirely.

Myth 05

✗“The societies just take a cut — not worth it.”

✓They deduct a small admin commission — often around 10–15%. That's a fraction of what you keep. The alternative isn't keeping 100%; it's collecting nothing and watching the full amount go to someone else. The maths isn't close.

Myth 06

✗“I'm too small to earn anything.”

✓Local and online radio, playlist and stream activity, pub and shop plays all generate royalties, and they add up. The money you don't claim doesn't wait — within about three years it's redistributed to the artists who did register. Staying out doesn't save your share; it gives it away.

And the common mistakes

Three ways registered artists still lose out.

Even once you've signed up, a few small slips can freeze or misdirect the money. All three are easy to avoid if you know to look.

Splits never agreed. If co-writers register different percentages — or register the same song twice and create two ISWCsInternational Standard Musical Work Code — the song's permanent ID. A song should have exactly one; duplicates split the royalty data and stall payments. — the data conflicts and the royalties sit frozen in a holding account until it's resolved. Agree the shares in writing first.
Performers left off the PPL line-up. PPL pays every credited performer, not just the lead. A session player or featured guest who isn't listed doesn't get paid, and it's the rights-holder's job to declare them.
The recording's code not linked to the song's. When a stream is reported, it's tagged with the recording's ISRCInternational Standard Recording Code — the ID for one specific recording. Streaming platforms report plays by ISRC.. If that isn't tied back to the song's ISWC, the money can't find the writer and goes unmatchedRoyalties that can't be tied to a registered owner. They sit in a "black box" and are eventually redistributed away.. Keep your codes consistent across every version.

The thread through all of them

Distribution is not registration.

Almost every myth here is the same mix-up: assuming that getting your music out is the same as getting it registered. It isn't. Releasing a track and claiming what it earns are two separate jobs — and the second is the one nobody does for you by default.

Remember three things and you avoid most of the loss: the song and the recording are separate, collected by different bodies; register early, before the plays happen; and keep your codes linked so the money can find you.

Where to go next

Now do something about it.

Register your catalogue

The plain-English walkthrough — who to join, what each field means, and how to claim your own work across all three bodies.

See the walkthrough →

The money gap

The scale of what these assumptions cost — across every independent artist who never registered, and across a single career.

See the numbers →

Coming soon

The simplest way to not make these mistakes.

REGISTAR is a tool we're building to handle the registration properly, so the gaps on this page never open up. Join the list and we'll let you know the moment it's ready — no spam, just one email.

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