Depending on the country, money nobody claims is shared among other rightsholders, moved into a fund or kept by the society. Each route has a deadline, usually three to six years.
Most rules start at three years, the point after which EU law lets a society treat money as non-distributable. SACEM and Adami wait five years, PPL six. The MLC's minimum is three years, and by April 2027 it will have held 2021 money for over six years.
Years as each rule states them. Depending on the society they count from the collection year or the distribution.
The MLC's lighter bar shows 2021 usage, held until the first market-share payout in April 2027.
In the US, unmatched streaming royalties the MLC still holds will be shared among everyone else in proportion to their existing share of usage. The first payout starts in April 2027. The biggest catalogues get the biggest absolute cut of money they did not earn.
PRS redistributes unmatched online money pro rata to the repertoire it could identify; Buma shares it among rightsholders of the same usage years. The share of an unregistered writer goes to whoever was registered.
EU law lets societies treat money as non-distributable after 3 years; their members decide its use. SIAE and GEMA fund social and cultural programmes; SACEM's statutes say royalties unclaimed for 5 years are acquired by the society.
Pro-rata and market-share rules pay each rightsholder in proportion to its existing share. For example, a catalogue with 10% of matched usage receives 10% of the unclaimed pool. The largest catalogues receive the largest amounts, from songs they do not own. No source we found says the formula gives them more than their proportional share.
The concern is on record. In 2021 the US Copyright Office quoted the MLC's own Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee, which supported withholding partly to “help alleviate concerns of any perceived conflicts of interest”.
The creator who earned the money, in every route. The only way to get it is to be registered, and to claim in time.
Search an artist, writer or producer, or upload a distributor report to check every streamed song.