Free Resource
The Song Release Roadmap
Every song you release is two pieces of property, and each one gets paid by a different set of companies. Nobody hands you a map of this. So we built one.
Answer four questions below and you will get a step-by-step roadmap built for your song: what to register, where, in what order, and what you can skip. You can also build and download a split sheet for your co-writers.
New to all of this? Read how the money works first
A word before you start. This is education, not legal or financial advice. Publishing situations vary more than almost anything else in music, and the right answer for you may not be the one we recommend here. For anything with real money or a contract attached, talk with a music attorney. We are producers and songwriters, not lawyers.
Written for artists releasing in the United States. The registration bodies named throughout are US organizations.
Build Your Roadmap
Four questions about your song
Your answers change which steps you actually need. Nothing here is stored on our servers and you do not need an account.
1. Who wrote this song?
2. Is the song fully original?
3. Is this a worship song you hope churches will sing?
4. Was AI involved in making this song?
Your Roadmap
Your song's release plan
Your checkboxes save in this browser, so you can close the page and come back.
Background How the money actually works One song is two pieces of property, and each is paid by a different set of companies. Two minutes of reading that makes the rest of this page make sense.
Copyright One
The Composition
The song itself. Melody and lyrics. It exists the moment you write it down or record it, even on a voice memo.
- Owned by the songwriters
- Identified by an ISWC
- Survives every cover version ever recorded
- Collected by your PRO, and by The MLC or a publishing administrator
Copyright Two
The Recording
The specific master you made in the studio. A different recording of the same song is a different asset with different owners.
- Owned by whoever paid for and owns the master, usually you
- Identified by an ISRC
- New recording, new ISRC, new asset
- Collected by your distributor and by SoundExchange
If you wrote the song and you own the master, you own both. That is the normal situation for an independent artist, and it is a good place to be. But they still have to be registered separately, in different places, because different companies pay for each one.
Who actually sends you money
| Kind of income | Which copyright | Who pays you | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance royalties | Composition | Your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) | Streaming, radio, live performance, TV, a church service reported to CCLI |
| Mechanical royalties | Composition | The MLC, or your publishing administrator | US streams and downloads |
| Recording royalties | Recording | Your distributor | Streams and downloads of your master |
| Digital performance | Recording | SoundExchange | Pandora radio, SiriusXM, internet radio stations |
| Sync licensing | Both | Negotiated directly with whoever wants it | Film, TV, ads, video games |
The single most common mistake. Your distributor pays you for the recording. That is it. Those payments have nothing to do with your songwriting royalties, and most independent writers never collect the composition side at all. That money sits unclaimed. Setting up the composition side is most of what this roadmap is about.
Free Tool
Build your split sheet
A split sheet is the cheapest insurance in music. It is one page, signed by everyone in the room, that says who wrote what percentage. Write it now, while everyone still agrees and nobody has any money on the line.
Writers
Signed to a publisher? Open "Publishing" under any writer to name their publishers and the share each one controls. Leave it closed if the writer is self-published.
Opens a clean, printable split sheet with signature lines. Print it or save it as a PDF, then have every writer sign it.
After Release
Keeping a release healthy
Registration is not something you do once and forget. Money goes missing quietly, and the only way you find it is by looking. Put these on a calendar.
Every month
- Skim your distributor statement for anything odd
- Check that a new release actually went live everywhere
- Save any new ISRCs into your song records
Every quarter
- Search your songs in The MLC's public database and confirm your shares are claimed
- Search the unclaimed works list at The MLC for your titles and your name
- Check your PRO statement for missing performances
- Confirm SoundExchange has both your artist and rights owner registrations paying out
Every year
- Reconcile what you were paid against what you expected
- Update mailing address, banking, and tax forms everywhere
- Register any unregistered songs with the Copyright Office as a batch
- Re-check splits if anyone's situation changed
The one thing worth doing today. Go to The MLC's public work search and type in your name. If your songs are not there, or the shares are wrong, that is unclaimed money sitting in a pile. It is free to look.
Bring your questions to Office Hours
Publishing questions are almost always specific, and the answer usually depends on details a page like this cannot know. Weekly Office Hours is a standing call where you can ask yours out loud and get a straight answer.
Join Weekly Office Hours →From $39/mo, and included with Writing Club Tier 3.