By Tami LaTrell, music business executive and music rights expert

Diagnosis: Is your catalog actually earning everywhere it should?

A music catalog audit is a detailed review of your songs, recordings, ownership information, registrations, identifiers, statements, and royalty sources.

In plain English, we compare what you released with where your music should be registered and where money may be waiting.

You may have streams. You may have radio play. You may have songs used internationally. But if your metadata, ownership splits, or registrations are incomplete, the money may not reach you.

No registration. No match. No payout.

A catalog health audit is especially important when:

• You have released music through more than one distributor.
• Your catalog includes older songs or multiple versions of the same recording.
• You changed distributors, publishers, PROs, labels, or administrators.
• You have received royalties from one source but not others.
• You’re unsure whether your songs are registered with The MLC, a PRO, or SoundExchange.
• You’re preparing for a catalog valuation, licensing opportunity, sale, or administration agreement.

Your catalog is an asset. Treat it like one.

What does a proper music catalog health audit review?

A real audit doesn’t look at one royalty statement and call it finished. It reviews the main royalty sources connected to both sides of your music:

• The sound recording, or master
• The underlying song, or composition

We build a master list of your releases and works, then compare that list against each royalty source. The goal is to identify missing registrations, incorrect identifiers, unmatched royalties, ownership conflicts, and gaps in collection.

Here are the six sources that should be reviewed.

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1. Distributors: master-side streaming and download revenue

What do distributors pay?

Your distributor typically delivers your sound recordings to digital platforms and reports master-side revenue from interactive streams, downloads, and other platform uses covered by your distribution agreement.

This is the recording side of your income.

Why do creators miss money here

Creators commonly lose track of revenue when:

• A release is delivered through more than one distributor.
• A track title or artist name is entered inconsistently.
• A remix, live version, or radio edit is confused with the original.
• An old account still receives revenue.
• Ownership or label information is outdated.
• A track was removed, re-uploaded, or assigned a different identifier.

A distributor statement also doesn’t prove that your composition is registered for publishing royalties. Master income and publishing income are separate lanes.

What does The Mezzo Agency check?

We compare distributor reports against your complete release list. We review:

• Track titles and alternate versions
• ISRCs
• Release dates and distributor accounts
• Master ownership
• Artist and featured-artist information
• Reported streams, downloads, and revenue
• Missing releases or duplicate registrations

A stream at the distributor is a signal that other royalty lanes may still be exposed.

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2. PROs: ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC performance royalties

What do PROs pay?

Performing rights organizations, including ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, collect performance royalties for musical compositions.

These royalties can come from public broadcasts, radio, television, live performances, and certain digital streams. They relate to the song: not the sound recording itself.

Why do creators miss money here

Your song may be released and receiving streams, but still be absent or incorrect in a PRO database. Common problems include:

• The work was never registered.
• Writer or publisher shares are wrong.
• A co-writer registered different information.
• The song title was entered differently.
• Your publisher information is missing.
• Live performances or setlists were never reported.
• A foreign performance did not match your work correctly.

Watch out: PRO registration alone does not collect every type of royalty. PROs generally handle performance royalties, not U.S. digital mechanical royalties or SoundExchange royalties.

What does The Mezzo Agency check?

The Mezzo Agency reviews your PRO works list and compares it against your master catalog. We check:

• Song titles and alternate titles
• Writers and publishers
• Ownership shares and music royalty splits
• IPI numbers
• ISWCs, when available
• PRO affiliation for each writer
• Live, radio, broadcast, and streaming activity
• Foreign society activity reported through reciprocal relationships

If the distributor shows a released recording but the underlying composition is missing at your PRO, that is a clear registration gap.

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3. MLC & HFA Mechanical Royalties

What do The MLC and HFA pay?

HFA (Harry Fox Agency) has licensed and administered mechanical royalties since 1927 — nearly a century — and is now part of SESAC Music Group. It handles mechanical licensing for physical formats like vinyl and CDs, along with digital uses, issuing the mechanical licenses labels and artists need for physical releases.

Physical is not a legacy footnote anymore. According to the RIAA’s 2026 mid-year report, physical music revenue grew 25.9% to $731.5M in the first half of 2026, with CDs up 58.6% to $171.1M and vinyl up 17.7% to $544M, while total U.S. recorded music revenue reached $6B, up 6.9%.

The Mechanical Licensing Collective administers U.S. digital audio mechanical royalties for eligible uses of musical works through interactive streaming and download services operating under the U.S. blanket license.

These are mechanical royalties, not performance royalties.

That distinction matters.

Why does the mechanical lane have more than one payer? The MLC pays digital mechanicals for compositions streaming on DSPs. HFA pays mechanicals for compositions sold as physical copies. Two different payers, two different lanes, one composition.

Why do creators miss money here

Creators miss money here when they register with The MLC and assume the mechanical lane is handled, without realizing physical sales flow through a different payer. Others release vinyl or CDs without ever securing a mechanical license, so nothing is ever reported or paid on those units.

Common causes include:

• The work was never registered with The MLC.
• Vinyl or CD units were released without a mechanical license in place.
• Writer and publisher shares don’t add up correctly.
• The song title differs from the title at the PRO or other registrations.
• The recording is not connected clearly to the composition.
• Metadata gaps keep HFA-reported income from matching to the right owners.
• Physical runs are limited or one-off and never reconciled after release.
• A publishing administrator registered the work, but the creator never verified it.

The MLC plans to begin its market-share distribution process for remaining unclaimed accrued blanket royalties in 2027, beginning with the remaining royalties from January 2021, and continuing month by month thereafter. That makes accurate registrations and claims especially important before the distribution process moves forward. See The MLC’s market-share information for current details.

What does The Mezzo Agency check?

We compare your composition list against both The MLC and HFA so you are not covered in one lane and exposed in the other. We verify:

• Work titles and alternate titles
• Writers, publishers, and ownership percentages
• MLC work registrations
• Mechanical-license coverage for vinyl and CDs
• ISWCs and related identifiers
• Recordings connected to each composition
• Unmatched or unclaimed work information
• Whether your administrator has authority to register and collect

If these two mechanical lanes are not both reviewed, your catalog can look covered on paper while money stays unmatched, unlicensed, or unaccounted for.

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4. SoundExchange: non-interactive digital performance royalties

What does SoundExchange pay?

SoundExchange administers digital performance royalties for sound recordings used by eligible non-interactive services, such as satellite radio and certain internet radio services.

This is a master-side royalty. It is different from the composition performance royalties collected by a PRO.

SoundExchange may distribute separate shares to featured artists, non-featured artists, and sound recording copyright owners. If you qualify for more than one share, each role must be properly registered.

Why do creators miss money here

Creators often register as a featured artist but not as the sound recording copyright owner. Others register an account but fail to register every recording with the correct ISRC.

That can leave money unmatched.

SoundExchange also has an important deadline rule:

SoundExchange is required to hold unclaimed royalties in a segregated trust account for at least three years from the date of initial distribution. After that period, claims are no longer valid, and SoundExchange may use the funds to offset administrative costs as permitted by federal regulation.

Old royalties do not stay open forever.

What does The Mezzo Agency check?

We compare your full master list against SoundExchange records. We review:

• SoundExchange artist and rights-owner accounts
• ISRCs
• Featured and non-featured performer information
• Master ownership
• Label or rights-owner details
• Unclaimed royalty records
• Possible conflicts or duplicate claims
• International neighboring-rights opt-ins and coverage

If your recording has usage but no matching SoundExchange registration, act quickly.

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5. International collection societies and foreign CMOs

What do international societies pay?

International collective management organizations and foreign collection societies may collect performance royalties, neighboring rights, and other income generated when your music is used in territories outside the United States.

The relevant organization depends on the country, the type of use, and whether you’re collecting composition income, recording income, or both.

Why do creators miss money here

International royalty collection is easy to overlook. You may have listeners, radio play, public performances, or licensing activity abroad without knowing which society is responsible for collecting.

Common gaps include:

• Relying on one U.S. registration for worldwide collection
• No foreign publishing administration
• Missing neighboring-rights registrations
• Incorrect local metadata
• Unclear territorial mandates
• No review of reciprocal collection coverage
• A distributor reporting international activity without a matching publishing registration

Your loss becomes someone else’s gain when the system cannot identify you.

What does The Mezzo Agency check?

We review:

• Countries where your music is being used
• International performance and recording activity
• Foreign society registrations
• Publishing-administration territories
• Neighboring-rights coverage
• Reciprocal collection arrangements
• ISRC, ISWC, writer, publisher, and ownership data

International collection isn’t one checkbox. It’s a territory-by-territory infrastructure question.

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6. Publishing administrators: composition income and royalty collection

What do publishing administrators pay?

A publishing administrator can help register and collect income connected to your compositions, including mechanical and performance royalties. Depending on the agreement, an administrator may work with PROs, The MLC, foreign societies, and mechanical collection organizations.

The exact territory, rights, term, and commission depend on your contract.

Why do creators miss money here

Publishing becomes difficult when more than one party is registering or collecting the same works. Problems can arise when:

• Two administrators claim overlapping rights.
• A previous administration agreement is still active.
• The administrator’s territory is limited.
• Works were never delivered or registered.
• Splits were entered incorrectly.
• The creator assumes the administrator collects master-side royalties too.

This is exactly where overlooked contract terms can turn into missed income and duplicated claims.

What does The Mezzo Agency check?

We compare administrator statements and registrations against your catalog. We review:

• Works under administration
• Contracted territories
• Registration status
• Royalty statements
• Mechanical and performance collections
• Commission terms
• Ownership and split information
• Duplicate mandates
• Unregistered compositions

Publishing administration should simplify collection: not create another blind spot.

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The cross-reference: where missing royalties are found

The value of a music royalty audit comes from comparing systems that don’t always communicate clearly with one another.

We pull statements, registration exports, work lists, and release data from each available source. Then we compare them against a master catalog containing:

• Song titles
• Recording titles
• Writers and publishers
• Music royalty splits
• ISRCs for recordings
• ISWCs for compositions
• IPI numbers
• Distributor accounts
• PRO registrations
• MLC registrations
• SoundExchange registrations
• International and publishing-administration details

Every released track should be traceable.

If a distributor shows the recording but SoundExchange does not, we flag it. If the PRO shows the composition but The MLC does not, we flag it. If royalties appear in a statement but cannot be tied to the correct work or owner, The Mezzo Agency identifies the mismatch and the exposure it creates.

This process can reveal missing payments, incorrect registrations, duplicate claims, and royalties sitting in suspense or unmatched accounts.

Solutions: protect the catalog you already built

You don’t need to understand every database alone. You do need a system that keeps your registrations, identifiers, ownership details, and statements connected.

The Mezzo Agency’s Catalog Health Audit is designed to identify weaknesses in your music rights infrastructure and show you what needs attention. We review your catalog for missing or incorrect information, including song titles, composer names, PRO details, royalty splits, registrations, and platform records.

We can help you:

• Organize your music catalog
• Verify metadata and identifiers
• Review royalty sources
• Identify registration gaps
• Support royalty collection and recovery
• Clarify next steps for publishing and rights administration

You retain ownership of your copyrights. We help you protect and administer them.

Don’t leave missing music royalties hidden in the paperwork.

Request a Catalog Health Audit or contact The Mezzo Agency to book a free call. Bring your catalog questions, your statements, and your concerns.

We’ll help you understand what you own, where it’s registered, and what may still be waiting to be claimed.