Where to register your music
Several organisations collect royalties on your behalf. They can only pay you if they know who you are. This page is the short version of which ones matter, what each covers, and who needs to register with which — for performing artists and songwriters alike.
Vinylaunch cannot register you, and nobody else can either.
We pay these organisations what we owe for every stream on this platform. They then pay their own members. If you are not a member, your share sits with them, unclaimed — for years, in many cases. This is the single biggest reason independent artists are owed money they never see, and it has nothing to do with the platform you release on.
It takes an afternoon. It is the highest-return afternoon in your career, and you only have to do it once.
First: your song is two things
Every recording contains two separate copyrights, and they are collected by different organisations. This is the thing that confuses everyone, and once it clicks the rest of the page is obvious.
The composition
The song itself — melody, lyrics, structure. Owned by whoever wrote it. Exists even if nobody ever records it.
The recording
The specific master you uploaded. Owned by whoever recorded it. A cover version is a new recording of someone else's composition.
If you wrote and recorded your own song, you own both — and you need to register in both places. They are different organisations with different sign-ups, and being in one does not put you in the other.
If you wrote the song
This applies whether or not you perform. A songwriter who never steps on a stage still has income to collect here.
Collects: Performance royalties — when your song is played publicly, including streamed.
Register if: You wrote or co-wrote any song. Pick ONE; you cannot be in two at once.
ASCAP and BMI are open to anyone. SESAC and GMR are invitation-only. Most independent writers join ASCAP or BMI.
Collects: Mechanical royalties — owed when your song is streamed on demand in the US.
Register if: You wrote or co-wrote any song. Free, and separate from your PRO.
Commonly missed, because people assume their PRO covers it. It does not. This is where a large share of unclaimed money sits.
Your IPI number is the thing to keep
Your PRO gives you an IPI (sometimes called CAE) when you join — the number that identifies you as a writer everywhere in the world. Add it to your tracks here, along with each co-writer's split, and your registrations line up cleanly instead of sitting in a matching queue.
If you performed on the recording
Collects: Digital performance royalties on the RECORDING — from internet and satellite radio, and other non-interactive stations.
Register if: You performed on, or own, a recording. Free. Featured artists and session musicians alike.
This is the one most often missed by artists who did everything else right. It pays the recording side, so your PRO and the MLC do not cover it — no matter how thoroughly you registered there.
On Vinylaunch this covers plays on VL Radio stations — station-programmed listening rather than someone choosing your track directly.
Two codes worth having
ISRC — identifies the recording
One per recording, permanently. Every re-mix or re-record gets its own. Without it, plays of your track are hard to attribute and easy to lose.
ISWC — identifies the composition
Assigned by your PRO once you register the song. Every recording of that song — yours, a cover, a live version — shares the one ISWC. Add it on your track here when your PRO issues it.
What Vinylaunch does, and does not do
We do
- Report every qualifying play to the organisations above, and pay them what we owe.
- Store your writer splits, IPIs, publishers, ISRC and ISWC so your reporting matches cleanly.
- Pay you directly for what happens on this platform — fan support, streaming and advertising. That is separate from everything on this page.
We cannot
- Register you with a PRO, the MLC or SoundExchange. Only you can.
- Collect on your behalf from them, or chase money they are holding for you.
- Tell you whether your registration went through — that happens on their systems, not ours.
How the platform's own payments work — fan support, listening and advertising — is a separate question with its own answer. Short version: your money goes where your fans point it, and nothing is pooled.
Ready to add what you have?
Splits, IPIs, publishers, ISRC and ISWC all live on each track in your catalogue. You can add them at any time — nothing is locked after upload.
Open your catalogueThis page is general information, not legal or financial advice. Rules differ outside the US, and the organisations above set their own terms. If your situation is complicated — a publishing deal, a label agreement, an international co-write — talk to someone qualified.