The Full Lifecycle of a Song Registration

RightsTune’s job is to claim publishing across a messy, multi-society world. Here’s the short version of what happens after you register a song — useful if you care how the sausage is made, or if you’re a user who wants to know we’re not hand-waving.

1. Data ingestion

• ISRC — identifier for the recording (the master that shows up on Spotify, etc.). Distributors assign these; we can pull them when you register from Spotify or Muso.ai.
• ISWC — identifier for the composition (the underlying song). PROs assign these. After you register with us, we compare title/IPI metadata against CISAC’s global registry to see if the work already exists at a PRO and link it where it should.
• IPI — the unforgiving writer ID. Societies need it to pay you correctly. You only get one by affiliating with a PRO. Need help finding yours? Use the PRO directory.
• Metadata — title, alternate titles, duration, release date, and related fields societies use to match usage. Better metadata = better match rate.

2. Delivery to global societies

We scale registrations with CWR (Common Works Registration) — a standard format for delivering works to PROs and mechanical societies. Our proprietary export engine takes platform submissions and ships them out in bulk instead of one-off manual filings.

3. Matching

Matching connects your master/recording data to the composition societies and DSPs report against. Usage files are enormous; incomplete data is how royalties miss you. The more accurate identifiers and metadata we send, the higher the chance you capture what you’re owed.

Questions or something unclear in your own catalog? Tell us — constructive feedback is how we tighten the system.