Your song gets added to a station in Chicago. The morning show starts spinning it, and by Friday it has aired more than two dozen times. Your publisher emails: money is on the way. Your distributor does not email. There is nothing on the recording side, and that is not a clerical error. That is the law.
The US is one of the only countries in the world where commercial broadcast radio is not required to pay the artist who recorded a song. If you own your master and your music gets US airplay, you are earning on the songwriter side, not the recording side.
Two rights live inside every song
Every released track carries two separate copyrights. The first is the composition: the melody and lyrics, owned by the songwriter and administered by a publisher. The second is the master recording: the specific version captured in the studio, owned by whoever financed and owns that recording. When radio stations license music in the US, they pay a fee to performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. That money covers the composition only.
If you write and perform your own songs, your PRO will pay you as a songwriter when your track airs on US radio. But the recording you made and own earns nothing from that broadcast. The industry term for what is missing is the neighboring right, sometimes called the related right or the performance right on the master.
Before you can collect from either side of this, you need documented proof of who owns what. A studio invoice does not establish copyright ownership. A signed recording agreement does. That is the document Musilock generates for independent artists who want their ownership on record before the music is released.
Neighboring rights exist almost everywhere but here
In Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, and most other territories, radio broadcasters are required by law to pay a performance royalty on the master recording. This right exists alongside the composition royalty and flows separately: one payment to the master owner, another to the featured artist.
The US has had legislation proposed more than once that would create this right domestically. The MUBUTV Music Business Insider podcast recently covered this topic, and the hosts confirmed the situation: the performance right on the master does not exist in US law. The broadcast industry has actively fought legislation that would change that. If such a law passed, it would alter radio economics.
If you own your master, international airplay can earn
When your music gets played on radio stations outside the US, neighboring rights money is being collected in those territories. It will not find you automatically. You have to register with the appropriate collection society.
SoundExchange is the most accessible starting point. It covers digital and satellite radio in the US, including Pandora and Sirius XM, and is free to join. For international collection, PPL handles the UK, Re:Sound handles Canada, and most other countries have equivalent national societies. Your distribution agreement may cover some of this on your behalf; check what territories and rights are actually included.
Signing your master away means signing this income away too
When a recording contract transfers ownership of your master to a label, the label becomes the entity entitled to collect neighboring rights internationally. This is one of the less-discussed costs of giving up master ownership.
Every year your music gets broadcast in territories with neighboring rights laws, money flows to whoever holds the copyright in the recording. Labels are typically registered with collection societies in their key markets. Independent artists often are not, which means money either sits uncollected or gets held as undistributed funds by the society.
Streaming pays both sides; US radio only pays one
A song that streams on Spotify generates two separate royalty streams: a composition royalty to your publisher, and a master royalty to whoever holds the recording. Both sides get paid on every stream. US commercial radio only triggers the first one. Your streaming income reflects owning both the song and the recording. Your US radio income, if any, reflects only owning the song.
For artists evaluating deals, this distinction matters. A distribution agreement that takes a stake in the master, or a recording contract that assigns the master outright, affects more income streams than streaming alone. Neighboring rights are one of the quieter ones.
Register now, before you need to
Register with SoundExchange if you have not already. It takes about twenty minutes and covers digital radio in the US. If your music gets meaningful airplay outside the US, look into whether your distributor collects neighboring rights in those markets or whether you need to register directly with the local society.
The path to collecting neighboring rights internationally starts with proving you own the master. Musilock's recording contract template gives you that foundation: a signed agreement establishing ownership before the track is out in the world.