$561 Million That Nobody Can Collect
The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) in the US has accumulated $561 million in unmatched mechanical royalties, with roughly $9 million more added every month. The Notes.fm platform discovered over $10 million in unclaimed royalties during its beta, averaging $15,500 per artist.
The cause? Incorrect or incomplete metadata. Works not registered with the corresponding society. Missing links between identifiers. In short: the music identification system fails, and creators lose money.
Three acronyms determine whether you get paid: CISAC, ISWC, and CWR.
CISAC: Who Coordinates the System
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers brings together over 225 collective management societies worldwide. If you're with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SGAE, SACEM, or any PRO, you're already part of the CISAC ecosystem.
Its main function is standardizing copyright administration through the CIS (Common Information System), which includes global identifiers and data exchange formats. In practice, CISAC is the reason you can collect royalties in Japan for a song registered in Spain.
ISWC: Your Song's ID Card
The International Standard Musical Work Code is a unique code assigned to each musical composition. Not the recording (that's the ISRC), but the work itself. Its format is T-XXX.XXX.XXX-X (letter T + 9 digits + check digit).
Why does it matter? Because without an ISWC, digital platforms may not correctly associate streams to your work. Your song plays a million times on Spotify, but if the metadata doesn't link those streams to your ISWC, the mechanical royalties end up in the "black box" — the black hole of money with no owner.
The ISWC is assigned by your PRO (ASCAP, SGAE...) after registering the work. You don't have to request it separately, but you do need to make sure your work is registered correctly.
CWR: The Format That Connects Everything
Common Works Registration is the standard file format used by publishers to register works with collection societies worldwide. It's a structured text file containing:
The publisher creates a single CWR file and sends it to multiple societies; they return confirmation files in the same format. It's the universal language between publishers and PROs.
The Real Problem: Nobody Teaches You This
Most songwriters and producers don't know what a CWR is. They shouldn't have to. The system is designed for publishers and administrators, not creators. But when you don't have a publisher and self-manage your catalog, this technical knowledge becomes the difference between getting paid and not getting paid.
How SPLEET Solves This
On the publisher plan, SPLEET generates CWR files automatically from your signed split sheets. Without you having to understand the technical format:
You don't need to be an expert in CISAC, ISWC, or CWR. You just need your metadata to be correct from day one. SPLEET handles the rest.