Claim What’s Yours: Why Every Musician Needs an IPI Number
In today’s music industry, getting paid fairly doesn’t just depend on talent — it depends on documentation. One of the most overlooked but critical elements in the business side of music is the IPI number. If you’ve never heard of it or never bothered to register one, you might be leaving money on the table — and worse, risking your rights.
What is an IPI Number?
IPI stands for Interested Party Information. It’s a unique international identifier assigned to songwriters, composers, and publishers by performing rights organizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI, PRS, or STIM.
Think of it like your artist ID for collecting royalties.
Your IPI number ensures that royalties — from streaming, radio play, sync licensing, and live performances — are correctly assigned to you, even across borders. It’s tied to your name, pseudonyms (artist names), and your ownership share in any composition.
A Quick History: Agreements, Attribution & Ownership
Before the rise of digital distribution, rights management was often handled by labels or publishers, with contracts scribbled on napkins or locked in filing cabinets. There were oral agreements, handshaake deals, and lots of confusion.
Today, things should be clearer. But for independent artists — and even experienced producers — agreements still often live in text threads, unstructured docs, or as forgotten PDFs. The result?
Split disputes that delay releases or cause permanent friction
Unclaimed royalties — globally, over $2.5 billion go uncollected each year
Lost opportunities when metadata and rights are missing or misassigned
As the creator economy explodes (projected to hit over 100 million paying creators by 2030), managing rights isn’t optional — it’s a strategic career move.
Why IPI Numbers Matter for Your Music Career
Royalty Collection at Scale With global streaming, your music can play in hundreds of countries — each with different royalty systems. Your IPI ensures your portion of the royalties comes back to you through your PRO, even for foreign use.
Legal Protection and Attribution Your IPI number helps protect your name and share in copyright databases. Without it, your contribution might be hard to prove — especially in disputes.
Professional Credibility When you collaborate with others, having an IPI shows that you take your career seriously. It makes agreement discussions clearer and faster.
Enables Tools like Vandall to Work for You Platforms like Vandall aim to automate and simplify metadata, split sheets, and agreements. But to work effectively, you need to input the right data — and that includes your IPI.
Try Vandall for free
Protecting Your Work = Unlocking More Revenue
The modern artist is a creative and a rights-holder. Whether you’re an indie producer uploading to DistroKid or working with a label on your next EP, knowing your IPI and properly managing your agreements is critical.
And that’s where Vandall is stepping in.
By giving you a centralized hub for your files, splits, agreements, and metadata, Vandall isn’t just making collaboration easier — it’s making sure your work is protected and properly monetized.
How to Get Your IPI Number
Sign up with a Performing Rights Organization (ASCAP, BMI, PRS, etc.)
After registration, they’ll issue your IPI number — this may take a few days.
Add this to your Vandall profile, it will automatically be added to your projects.
If using other platforms, be sure to always include your IPI in new songwriting and publishing agreements.
Try Vandall for free, it automatically adds your accreditation information to all projects and helps you keep your projects organized. Get set up in under a minute.
