In February 2021, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) absorbed approximately $424 million in unclaimed streaming royalties from major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The MLC was created after Congressional approval, with a mandate to collect and distribute songwriters and musicians' royalty payments. However, by the end of 2021, the MLC had accumulated at least $561 million in unmatched royalties, according to a tax document shared with the media outlet Digital Music News (DMN).

Spotify has dramatically changed the way we listen to music, offering a vast library of songs that can be streamed on demand. With hundreds of millions of active users as of December 2022, it's no surprise that Spotify has become one of the most popular music streaming platforms in the world.

The question at large is how do artists, music producers and music rights holders make money on Spotify? While it's true that streaming has disrupted traditional models of music monetization, there are still several ways for artists to generate additional income through the platform.

As a songwriter or musician, it’s important to know that your music is being properly administered and that you are collecting all the royalties you are owed. A large number of songwriters and musicians spend a great amount of time creating and releasing music, but very few take the necessary steps to collect the royalties that their music is generating. Songtrust is one of the leading music publishing administration companies in the world, and they can help make sure you get what you deserve.

A Performing Rights Organization (PRO) collects royalties on behalf of their songwriters and music publishers. These organizations offer a wide range of services including licensing songs to artists, managing the royalties of songwriters, and distributing royalties to those who are entitled. There are three main types of PROs: General PROs, which represent all songwriters; Songwriter PROs, which represent songwriters for a particular genre or style; and Music Publisher PROs, which represent publishers who own the copyright to songs in their catalogues.

I meet a lot of artists/producers these days, and everyone is putting out music. People are always saying that they’re the next - fill in the blank ______.  But when I ask, “Are you handling your business with regard to your publishing?” all I get is silence and blank stares. For those that know us, and our contribution to the culture is this - We’re dedicated to helping artists obtain their dreams.  We drop a ton of information on artists/producers, and most times we do it on the strength.