Studies · primary sources
The money nobody claims.
Each study starts from what societies and The MLC publish about themselves: what the figure is, why it happens, who loses and what an artist can do.
Collected by authors' societies worldwide in 2024€13.97bn
Source
For scale only: no reliable global figure for unclaimed money exists to set next to it.
Study 1$397Mhanded over unmatched, Feb 2021
The MLC black box, by streaming service
Apple Music and Spotify account for three quarters of it.Read the study →Study 2over 60%of the $397M paid out by Sep 2026The MLC black box, five years on
About $80M is still unmatched (derived).Read the study →Study 3£69Mmatched but held, end of 2024Why PRS holds songwriters' money
26% waits on payment details, 10% on ownership information.Read the study →Study 4£23.3Mcollected 2018–2023, unallocatedPPL money not yet allocated, by year
The 2023 collection year alone holds £7.0M.Read the study →Study 5€31.7MSIAE non-distributable, end of 2024Unclaimed money moved into funds across Europe
Funds, budgets or other members: none of it reaches the creator.Read the study →Study 63 yearsEU point for non-distributableWhere unclaimed money ends up
Then it is shared out, moved to a fund or kept.Read the study →Every number comes from the document linked in its study. Values we computed are marked derived. Figures in different currencies or years are never added up.