The Paper Trail | September 23, 2026
By Tami LaTrell: Music business executive, music publishing expert, educator, and founder of The Mezzo Agency

On September 17, 2026, SoundExchange and Music Nation Copyrights Management in the United Arab Emirates announced a reciprocal agreement covering neighboring rights.

That sounds technical. The practical meaning is important:

U.S. recordings used in the UAE may now have a clearer collection pathway back to U.S. performers and sound recording rights owners. UAE recordings used in the United States can move through the same kind of reciprocal system in the other direction.

This expands the map of territories where your recordings can earn.

SoundExchange now has agreements with more than 100 collective management organizations around the world. MusicNation adds the UAE to that growing network.

But a larger map only helps if your rights information can be matched to your recordings.

🎧 What are neighboring rights?

Neighboring rights, also called related rights, are royalties connected to the use of a sound recording, not just the underlying song.

For example, a recording may generate digital performance royalties when it is played through eligible non-interactive digital services, such as digital radio. In international markets, similar sound recording uses may be handled as neighboring rights through local collection organizations.

This is different from composition performance royalties.

A single track has at least two major copyright sides:

• The composition: lyrics and music, represented through organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and other rights organizations.
• The sound recording: the actual recorded performance, connected to featured artists, performers, labels, and sound recording copyright owners.

Composition performance royalties belong on the publishing side.

SoundExchange royalties and international neighboring rights belong on the sound recording side.

One song. Two copyrights. Multiple royalty pathways.

🌍 What does “reciprocal” mean?

A reciprocal agreement allows rights organizations in two territories to represent and collect for each other.

In this case, MusicNation can help administer eligible neighboring-rights uses of U.S. recordings in the UAE. SoundExchange can help create a collection route for eligible UAE recordings used in the United States.

The agreement does not mean that every recording automatically receives money from every use.

Foreign collection is territory-by-territory. Each country has its own laws, collection organizations, licensing structures, data requirements, and payment rules.

What changes is access.

Before a reciprocal relationship exists, money may have no practical route between the local market and the rights owner’s home market. When a new agreement is added, that territory becomes more connected to the global rights-management system.

Your recording may already be traveling farther than your royalty infrastructure.

⚠️ The registration gap many creators miss

A common problem is registering as a Featured Artist but never registering as the Sound Recording Copyright Owner.

That can leave part of the sound recording royalty pathway without a properly identified claimant.

If you own your masters, own a label’s recordings, or control sound recording rights through a business entity, your SoundExchange profile and catalog records need to reflect that ownership. If you’re a producer, your entitlement may depend on your agreement and whether you hold an ownership interest or contractual participation in the recording.

Being credited on a track is not the same as being properly documented as a rights owner.

No matching ownership data, no clean payout.

The same concern applies internationally. A foreign organization cannot reliably send money to the correct party when the recording has incomplete or conflicting information.

⏳ Don’t ignore unclaimed SoundExchange royalties

SoundExchange states that unclaimed royalties are held in a segregated trust account for at least three years from the initial distribution.

After that period, claims are no longer valid.

That makes missing registrations, outdated contact details, incorrect artist names, and incomplete ownership information more than administrative annoyances. They can become a deadline problem.

The UAE agreement creates another reason to examine your older releases. A catalog that was never reviewed for international neighboring rights may now have additional territory exposure.

Your loss becomes someone else’s unresolved balance.

🗂️ What The Mezzo Agency checks

At The Mezzo Agency, our catalog management and rights administration services focus on the information behind the royalty.

For neighboring-rights and SoundExchange royalty reviews, we look at areas such as:

• Whether the recording is identified with the correct ISRC and release information.
• Whether the featured artist and sound recording copyright owner roles are properly represented.
• Whether label, producer, performer, and ownership details agree across the catalog.
• Whether metadata can support international matching and distribution.
• Whether the recording has potential gaps connected to unclaimed or missing music royalties.
• Whether master-side information is being confused with publishing-side information.

This is music rights management at the infrastructure level.

The goal is not simply to list a song. The goal is to make the recording identifiable, attributable, and administratively ready wherever eligible royalties may arise.

The takeaway for U.S. rights owners

The SoundExchange–MusicNation agreement is a meaningful development because it expands cross-border access for digital performance royalties and neighboring rights.

It also reinforces a harder truth:

A new royalty territory does not repair an old catalog problem.

Review who owns each master. Confirm how every recording is identified. Separate composition royalties from sound recording royalties. Make sure your Featured Artist and Sound Recording Copyright Owner information tells the same story.

The UAE is now more connected to the neighboring-rights map.

Your catalog should be ready for the journey.

Read more educational coverage in the Mezzo Agency blog, and review the original announcements from SoundExchange and PR Newswire.