For Songwriters
A Year-End Royalty and Registration Checklist for Songwriters
By the Starchild Music team · October 15, 2026 · 5 min read
The short answer
Before the year ends, confirm that every song is registered with your PRO and The MLC, that splits match everywhere, and that your payout and tax details are current. Registration mistakes are the main reason royalties go unpaid, and fixing them is free.
Royalty income rarely fails because a song did not earn. It fails because the data did not line up: a missing share, a typo in a writer name, a payout account that expired. October is a good month to find those problems, before the year-end rush.
Here is a checklist you can finish in an afternoon. It works whether you have five songs or five hundred.
1. List every song and every version
Start with a simple spreadsheet: title, writers, splits, release status, and where it is registered. Add alternate titles and any recorded versions.
The MLC's Catalog Export Tool downloads a list of your registered works, which makes a handy comparison against your own list. Gaps show up quickly.
Include songs that are not yet licensed. A finished song with no registration is the easiest to forget, and the easiest to fix.
Mark each row with a simple status: unregistered, registered at one place, or fully registered. The goal for the rest of the checklist is to turn every row green.
2. Check your PRO registrations
Performance royalties are paid by PROs, and the song has to be registered with one to be paid. Songtrust's explainer on streaming notes this directly.
Performance income is split into a writer's share and a publisher's share. If you also act as your own publisher, make sure you are registered in both roles, or you may only collect half. Confirm each song's splits add up the way your agreement says.
Be consistent with names. Use the same spelling of your name and the same song titles everywhere, including any alternate titles. Songtrust's guide warns that conflicting claims and credit errors from incorrect registration are the main obstacle to getting paid.
Also note your IPI number somewhere safe. It appears on the license certificate for every Starchild license, and it is the code that ties you to your society.
3. Check The MLC for streaming mechanicals
Search each title in The MLC's Public Work Search. Claim missing shares with the Claiming Tool, and register anything not found. The MLC says membership and registration are both free.
The MLC has also said it will begin market share distributions of unmatched and unclaimed royalties in April 2027. Songs matched before then keep their money out of that pool.
If you want more detail, see our guide to registering with The MLC.
4. Decide what to register with the Copyright Office
Copyright exists from creation, but registration with the U.S. Copyright Office creates a public record. The Office explains that a musical composition and a sound recording are separate works. They can be registered together on one application only when ownership of both is exactly the same.
If you wrote and own a song but an artist owns their recording, you register the composition. The artist handles theirs.
Registration is a choice, not a requirement for being paid. Weigh the filing fee against how valuable the song is to you, and start with the songs you expect to matter most.
5. Refresh payout and tax details
Payments cannot arrive if the bank account on file is closed. The MLC lists Member Settings as the place to keep contact details, banking information and tax documentation current. Do the same at your PRO and at your administrator, if you use one.
On Starchild, you withdraw to your bank through Stripe once your balance reaches $50, so check that your payout details are current in your dashboard before you need them.
6. Reconcile your licenses
Open your sales dashboard and note which songs sold. Each license produces a certificate naming the writers with PRO and IPI, and anyone can check one at /verify. Keep a copy of each with your records.
Then look for releases. When a licensed song reaches streaming, the registrations above are what turn plays into payments. Our piece on tracking who released your song shows how to find them.
7. Close the year with a short list of next steps
Songtrust's guide to writer and publisher shares points to conflicting claims and credit errors from incorrect registration as the main obstacle to being paid. A tidy catalog avoids most of them.
- Fix any split that differs between systems.
- Register new songs before you list them.
- Note one song a month to re-check.
- Save PDFs of certificates, split sheets and statements in one folder.
A note on timing
Registration problems are easiest to fix before money arrives. Once a statement shows unmatched usage or a disputed share, resolving it takes longer and involves more people.
The MLC distributes digital audio mechanicals monthly, and it reports that its Songwriter Hub has more than 20,000 users. Many songwriters have already done this housekeeping. If you have not, a single afternoon puts you on the same footing.
Set a calendar reminder for the same week next October. A yearly check is enough for most catalogs, with a quick look whenever a licensed song is released.
When a song has more than one writer
Co-written songs create the most mistakes. If two writers each register their own share and the numbers add up to more than 100%, the work is flagged. The MLC provides an Overclaims Tool for exactly this case.
Before the year ends, make sure every co-writer has the same split on paper. Our guide to listing a co-written song walks through split sheets and permissions.
For the codes that identify writers and societies, see PRO, IPI, publisher: the metadata that pays you.