Neighbouring Rights and SoundExchange

There are two sides of every song: the composition (the music and lyrics you wrote) and the recording (the actual audio file you recorded). Each generates its own royalties. Each has its own collection society.

Performance royalties from the composition side go to your PRO. But there is a second pool, coming from the recording side, that performers and master owners are owed. These are neighbouring rights — sometimes called "neighboring rights" or "related rights" — and most independent artists never collect them.

What neighbouring rights are

When a recording (not a composition) is played in a way that is not a one-to-one sale or on-demand stream, the performers and master owner are owed a royalty.

Examples:

• Your track plays on terrestrial radio in the UK, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and dozens of other countries
• Your track is used in a shop, a bar, a cafe, a hotel lobby
• Your track is played on non-interactive digital radio (Pandora non-interactive, SiriusXM, similar)
• Your track plays on TV, in a gym, in a public space

The composition side of this royalty goes to your PRO. The recording side goes to a neighbouring rights society.

These are separate pots of money. Missing one does not mean missing both. You can be fully registered with your PRO and still be missing every penny of your neighbouring rights income.

Why most independents miss this

Two reasons.

First, the US does not recognize neighbouring rights on terrestrial radio. So if you are a US artist, you never see a neighbouring rights royalty from US radio. That is a structural thing — the US is an outlier. Most of the rest of the world does pay them.

Second, collecting these requires a separate registration process with a separate society. Your PRO does not do it for you. Most distributors do not do it for you. Your publishing admin might do it, but often only as an add-on. It falls in a gap.

Who collects for you

United States — SoundExchange. Covers non-interactive digital radio (SiriusXM, webcasters, Pandora non-interactive). Free to register as a featured performer or master owner. There is also a separate piece for international collection — SoundExchange has reciprocal deals but they are patchy, which is why many US artists also use a third-party collector for international.

United Kingdom — PPL. Covers radio, TV, and public performance of recordings. One-time registration fee.

Continental Europe — a society per country: SAMI (Sweden), GRAMEX (Denmark), GVL (Germany), SCPP and SPPF (France), and so on. Each has separate registration.

International collection services — Audoo, PlayRight, IRRA, and similar third-party collectors handle the patchwork across multiple territories for artists who do not want to register individually with 30 different societies. These typically take 15–20% of collected royalties.

Who gets paid

Two kinds of people get neighbouring rights royalties:

1. Featured performers — the artist whose name is on the track, plus any named featured artists. 45% of the pot, typically.
2. Non-featured performers — backing vocalists, session musicians, the drummer on track 4. 5% of the pot, often collected by a union.
3. Master rights owner — whoever owns the master recording. 50% of the pot. Usually the artist (for independents), the label (for signed artists).

If you are both the featured performer and the master owner on your releases, you are owed both pieces. That is most independent artists.

How to register

The workflow, in order:

1. Set up SoundExchange (or your territory equivalent) and list yourself as a featured performer. Then separately as a master owner if applicable.
2. Set up PPL (UK) if your music gets any European attention.
3. Register every track — title, ISRC, release date, performer credits, master owner. ISRC is the key that matches your track to play data.
4. For international, either register individually with each territory or use a collector like Audoo or PlayRight that handles many at once.

SoundExchange is free. PPL has a one-time fee but then free going forward. Third-party collectors take a cut.

Why ISRCs matter here

Neighbouring rights societies match play data to payment using ISRC codes. If your tracks do not have ISRCs, or you have not told your society which ISRCs are yours, nothing gets matched. Payments sit in an unidentified pool and eventually get distributed to whoever does submit matching data, often the biggest labels.

This is the most common failure mode for independents. The tracks get played, the money gets collected, it just never reaches you because the system cannot connect the dots.

What your PRO does NOT do

Your PRO handles the composition side only. It does not collect:

• SoundExchange US digital radio royalties
• PPL UK recording royalties
• Any neighbouring rights from any other territory

If you only have a PRO, you are collecting maybe half of your royalty income.

Common mistakes

Assuming distribution or admin covers this. It usually does not. Check your admin's fine print. Many admin services offer neighbouring rights as a separate add-on, not bundled.

Only registering in your home country. If you get spins in multiple countries, you need to be registered in each (or use a collector). A Spotify playlist in Germany that gets radio syndication is earning German neighbouring rights royalties — which go to GVL, not to your local society.

Missing ISRC registration. Every track needs an ISRC, and every society you register with needs to know which ISRCs are yours.

Never registering as a master owner. If you self-release, you are the master owner. You need to claim that role separately from your performer role. Otherwise you only collect half of what you are owed.

What to do this quarter

1. Register with SoundExchange if you are US-based, PPL if you are UK-based, or your local society elsewhere.
2. List yourself as both featured performer and master owner.
3. Make sure every released track has an ISRC and that your society has a list of those ISRCs.
4. If you have meaningful international streams, look at Audoo, PlayRight, or a similar collector for the territories your local society does not cover.

It is one weekend of paperwork. It turns on a royalty stream you are currently not collecting at all.

See your full royalty coverage in 5 minutes. The free Music Industry Readiness Check scores neighbouring rights alongside PRO, admin, mechanicals, and ISWC coverage — and surfaces the streams you are leaving on the table. No signup required.