There are hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in accounts in Washington D.C. and Nashville that belong to musicians who never came to get them. Some of it might be yours. Checking is free and takes about ten minutes. This is not a scam and not a service — these are the two official organizations U.S. law built to hold your money until you show up.
Why money would be sitting there with your name near it
Two kinds of royalties get collected automatically whether or not you ever signed up for anything. When your recording plays on internet radio, satellite radio, or webcast stations (Pandora's radio side, SiriusXM, thousands of web stations), the services pay SoundExchange by law. When your song streams on Spotify, Apple Music, or any interactive service, the services pay a mechanical royalty to The MLC by law.
Here's the catch that creates the pile: both organizations collect the money first and then try to figure out who it belongs to. If you never registered, they can't find you — so your money sits in what the industry calls the black box, waiting. It doesn't wait forever. After a legal holding period, unclaimed money can be released and split among everyone else. Holding periods differ by organization and are published on each official site.
The ten-minute check, in three moves
SoundExchange keeps a public search of artists and rights owners they're holding money for. Type in your artist name, band names, and legal name. If you show up, they have money for you right now and the registration in Move 2 is how you collect it.
Search the list →Whether or not you found yourself on the list, register. This is what turns on the faucet going forward — every webcast and internet-radio play of your recordings starts paying you instead of the box. You'll need your name, your recordings, and a way to get paid. There is no fee, ever.
One thing worth knowing: this money is for the recording, split between the featured artist and whoever owns the master. If you released your own music, that's you on both counts.
Register free →This one is for the song — the words and melody — and it pays whoever wrote it. If your music is on streaming services and you're not registered with The MLC, your mechanical royalties are accruing unmatched. Make a free account, add your songs, and claim what's already sitting there. Their database also has a public search, so you can look for your titles before you even sign up.
Register free →Will it be life-changing money?
Honest answer: for most people it's not a fortune — dozens or hundreds of dollars, sometimes more if your music has real play history you never collected on. But it is your money, it's free to claim, and registering means every future play pays you automatically. Some musicians who register find outstanding payments waiting; others find none. Money that is never claimed stays in the box.
While you're at it
These two registries are part of a bigger picture — PROs for performance royalties, copyright registration, and the rest of the paperwork that makes sure every dollar your music earns finds you. The full map is here: Royalties and rights, explained like a human.