Free Resources · Royalty Matching

Your Song Has More Than One Name.
Every Name Is Money.

Most independent artists are leaving money sitting inside the PRO system — because their song got reported under names they never registered. Here's how that leak works, in plain English.

Created by Feady Crocka

You put a record out with one title. But that's not the only name it goes by. A DJ types it a little different. A blog spells it their way. A compilation re-types the tracklist from memory. A feature or a "radio edit" changes the string in parentheses.

Every one of those becomes a line in somebody's royalty report. And here's the part nobody tells you: the money follows the name on the report — not the name in your head. If the collection system can't tie that reported name back to a title you registered, the money attached to it goes unmatched. Unmatched money doesn't wait for you. It gets pooled and, eventually, paid out to everybody else.

If it doesn't match, it can't pay.
Step 1 · The reality

One song answers to a dozen names

Out in the world, your one record is reported under every spelling people give it. That's normal. It only becomes a problem at the next step.

YOUR SONG "Lay Out Your Suits" "Lay Out Cho Suits" "Lay Out Ya Suits" "...(Radio Edit)" "...(feat. So-&-So)" "Tell 'Em Iz"
One recording. Six names in the wild. The gold one is what you registered — the rest are how the world actually logged your plays.
Step 2 · The leak

The system only pays the names it recognizes

On the left, what got played (the reports, under all those names). On the right, what you registered. It pays only where the two sides agree — everything else falls into the black box.

Reports · what got played Registration · what you filed "Lay Out Your Suits"$ "Lay Out Cho Suits"$ "Lay Out Ya Suits"$ "Tell 'Em Iz"$ "Lay Out Your Suits" (only one on file) MATCH → pays you THE BLACK BOX unmatched → paid to everybody else
Only "Lay Out Your Suits" was registered, so only its plays match and pay. The other three names had money on them — and it leaked into the unmatched pool.
Step 3 · The fix

Register every real name, and every dollar finds you

Your PRO (BMI, ASCAP) and The MLC let a work carry alternate titles — the other real names your song is known by. Add the variants actually showing up in your reports, and every one of them gets a hook to catch and route home.

Reports Registration · + alternate titles "Lay Out Your Suits" "Lay Out Cho Suits" "Lay Out Ya Suits" "Tell 'Em Iz" "Lay Out Your Suits" alt: "...Cho Suits" alt: "...Ya Suits" alt: "Tell 'Em Iz" All four match → all four pay you
Same song, same reports — but now every real name is on the registration. Nothing falls into the black box. That's the whole fix.
The line that keeps it clean

Alternate titles are for the real variant names of your own song. Register those and your money finds you. Inventing titles your song was never reported under, or listing someone else's song as an "alternate" of yours, is a false claim into a payment system — that's fraud, not a fix. We get your money matched correctly. Never a loophole. (Education only — not legal, financial, or tax advice; policies and laws vary.)

Find your leak

See where your money is sitting

Take the free Royalty Match Checkup and we'll show you where your titles, codes, and registrations don't line up — or have Done Deal Digital run the full match for you.

Take the free Royalty Match Checkup → Read: If It Doesn't Match, It Can't Pay

No promises about numbers. Just clean data across every system, so what you're owed can find you.