SoundExchange

The Gist 

WHERE:  SoundExchange.com

WHAT DO THEY PAY:  Digital Performance Royalties 

WHO DO THEY PAY:  “Master Owners”, “Featured Artist”, & “Non-Featured Artists”*

WHEN DO THEY PAY: Monthly for digital payouts (direct deposit, Paypal, Zelle) or Quarterly if paid by paper check. 
Digital payouts must be over $10 threshold & check payments must be over a $100 threshold. 

HOW MUCH?:  Free to join & SoundExchange only keeps ~4–6% off the top for their own operating costs. 

What Is SoundExchange?

So if you have already been releasing music for a while, this is the fun one. Because there is potentially already money there waiting for you.
(From the past 3 years anyways. They won't hold your unclaimed funds longer than that!)

SoundExchange collects royalties specifically from digital performances on “non-interactive” platforms like SiriusXM or Pandora which use music under a "Statutory License". 

These royalties go to:
50% to “Rights Owners”
45% to “Featured Artist”
5% to a fund for “Non-Featured Artists*”

Who is a "Rights Owner"?

 The “Rights Owner”, or "Master Owner", is who actually owns a particular song recording - which is often referred to as “The Master”. 
This could be the same artist or band listed as the “Featured Artist” if the track was released independently OR, in a more traditional context, a label.

Who is a "Featured Artist"?

While this may sound confusing since we often use the term "featuring" to describe guest-performers on songs; SoundExchange defines the “Featured Artist” as the band or artist who performs the song recording. Or, more specifically, as “The artist that is prominently featured on a track or album”.

If the "Featured Artist" is a solo project, then that individual can claim 100% of this royalty share on their tracks. 

If the "Featured Artist" is a band with multiple contributing members, then each member can be allotted a percentage of the Featured Artist royalty share per song.
SoundExchange allows you to create “Lineups” of artists and designate what percentage of this royalty share is owed to each individual on each song. *Each individual will also need to register with SoundExchange to actually receive payment.    

“Featured Arts” can also voluntarily elect to divert a percentage of their royalty share to other “Creative Participants”, such as producers, engineers, and mixers by submitting a “Letter of Direction” (LOD) to SoundExchange.

The official SoundExchange guide to LOD’s can be found here.

Who are "Non-Featured Artists"?

The “Non-Featured Artists” are any session musicians or backup vocalists who contributed to the track but are not predominantly featured or credited as the artist. 

Unfortunately, even though SoundExchange collects this percentage initially, they do not pay these individuals directly like they do "Featured Artists" & "Rights Owners".
Instead, SoundExchange pays this percentage to The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and those funds then need to be claimed through these services directly. *BIG FUCKING ASTERIX* 

If you are a “Non-Featured Artist”, you can check if there are any royalties currently owed to you using the search feature here: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/

This system is not perfect, in fact, I would argue it's deeply flawed.
According to SAG AFTRA’s guide on Sound Recordings:
“Due to the complex nature of the distributions and the vast number of sound recordings and performers involved, the Fund does NOT pay on each and every sound recording performed or released. Rather, payments are based on a census or a survey”

So yeah, the sucky part here is you may not actually get all (or any) royalties for each time you participate as a session musician because SAG AFTRA decided it was too hard to properly track all recordings… Even though all of these other companies manage to do it. 

That being said, you can search to see if they have acknowledged your recording and also attempt to submit claims here: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/Search/Unclaimed

Registering VS "Becoming a Member"?

Once you register to receive your royalties through SoundExchange, you are also given the option to become a “Member” of SoundExchange. 

While this technically sounds a bit redundant, also enrolling to be a “Member” is also free and enables SoundExchange to also collect statutory license royalties for you from 35 other countries (as of 2025). 

The caveat here is becoming a “Member” does grant SoundExchange exclusive control over licensing your sound recordings outside the US. But, since most independent artists aren't looking to individually negotiate licensing agreements with international providers, one by one by one; the SoundExchanger “Membership” is likely a good fit for most independent artists.  

Bonus:
On your “Membership Summary" page, you also have the option to opt into AHRA Authorization. 

This enables SoundExchange to collect U.S. Private Copy royalties owed to you under the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA).  

Private Copy royalties are generated from the sale of any devices that can be used to make private copies of copyrighted works; like blank CDs, recorders, your cellphone, ect. Go ahead and opt-in to that too. 

This is a bit of a relic in todays music industry, but it doesn't hurt to opt-in to receive what little is there. 

Claiming Your Recordings

Once you are enrolled in SoundExchange, you can search for and claim your existing recordings in their database.

If you are also the “Rights Owner” of a song, you can also “Submit Recordings” that are either unreleased or just haven't been reported to the SoundExchange database yet.
(Sorry, but if they don't already have record of a song that's been out for a while, that does generally mean nowhere SoundExchange is collecting royalties from has reported a play of that song/IRSC)

SoundExchange has a ton of excellent video tutorials for the actual claiming process here:

Claiming Tracks as an Artist

Submitting Tracks as a Rights Owner