If your royalty payout looks smaller than it should, there are two possible explanations. Either money is being deducted that your agreement does not allow, or money is being deducted that it does. The second happens far more often than the first. Platforms aggregate revenue across millions of streams by territory and listener type, distributors convert that into a single number on a statement, and almost none of that process is visible to you. That opacity is the normal state of the business. It can look identical to theft when you do not know what to look for.
Dashboard numbers and payout figures measure different things
Your streaming dashboard shows play counts. Your distributor's statement shows money after the platform has already paid its own share. Platforms pay out a fraction of their revenue per stream, not a fixed rate per play. That fraction shifts with territory, the ratio of paid to free listeners, and how streams are distributed across the platform in a given month. Platforms do not publish a single per-stream rate, and no calculation connects a play count directly to a dollar amount.
What you can compare is the revenue shown on your statement against what actually landed in your account. That gap, when one exists, is where to start. The stream count on your dashboard is not part of that calculation.
No calculation connects a play count directly to a dollar amount.
Musilock generates distribution contracts so artists can read the payment terms before a release goes anywhere. Knowing which deductions are allowed and where the payout threshold sits, before the first statement arrives, is what makes that statement readable.
Your agreement already lists every deduction that is permitted
Open the agreement you signed and find the payment terms. Look for what the distributor is allowed to take before sending you the remainder. The common items:
- A percentage cut or flat fee applied per release, per territory, or per storefront
- Currency conversion costs when revenue crosses between markets
- A minimum payout threshold that holds your balance until it clears a floor
- Any advance, setup fee, or distribution charge that is still recouping against your earnings
Each of those is a legitimate deduction when it appears in the agreement. Go through your statement line by line and match each charge to a clause. A deduction with no supporting clause is a specific, answerable question. A deduction that is in the clause is not a dispute, even if the amount is frustrating.
If you clicked through the terms during an online sign-up, the agreement still exists. Most distributors store it in your account settings or help center, sometimes under a label like 'distribution agreement' or 'artist terms.' Finding it is the first step.
Most distribution agreements include a right to question your statements
Look for a reporting clause, usually a few paragraphs past the payment terms. It tells you how often statements are owed and in what level of detail. Some agreements also include a right to examine the underlying records, with a window after each statement within which to raise a question.
If that right exists, it usually comes with conditions: a period within which to object, sometimes a requirement to engage an independent accountant for a formal audit. Those details are worth knowing before you need them, not after.
Many distribution agreements include this clause. Most artists never read that far. What it says determines how much standing you have if you decide to push back. A distributor that owes you a detailed accounting under the agreement is in a different position from one that does not.
A written request with specific dates is not the same as a complaint
If you have matched every deduction to a clause and the numbers still do not reconcile, put the question in writing. Name the specific period. State what you received. Reference the reporting clause in your agreement by name or section. Ask for a breakdown that accounts for each line item.
A request like that ties the company to their own stated terms. It costs nothing, and it creates a record that a general complaint does not.
If the response does not reconcile the numbers, or no response comes, that is a conversation for a lawyer who handles music contracts. A discrepancy that remains after all of that is not something a blog post can verify.
The terms you can still shape are in your next distribution deal
If you are working through this now, the terms in your current agreement are already set. The statement you received is a product of what you agreed to, which is a difficult position to argue from, whatever the number turns out to be. What you can control is what you agree to next.
Reading a distribution agreement clause by clause before signing, rather than after a confusing statement arrives, is how you know in advance what each deduction will be, where the threshold sits, and what reporting you are owed.
That is the work Musilock's digital distribution contract is built for: readable terms you can review and send for e-signature before the music goes anywhere.