What Is RoyaltyCoPilot.ai? Find the Royalties You're Missing

RoyaltyCoPilot.ai is a royalty-gap finder I built for songwriters, artists, and independent publishers. You type in an artist name, it pulls the catalog from Spotify, and it checks each song against The MLC, SoundExchange, and performing rights organizations like BMI and ASCAP to find registrations that are missing, incomplete, or claimed by someone else. Where streaming data exists, it puts an estimated dollar figure on each gap, then walks you through fixing it. The scan is free, the Artist plan is $12 a month, and the self-serve plans take no percentage of your royalties. The 46-second "Introducing RoyaltyCoPilot.ai" video shows the whole loop: scan, dashboard, My Works, Royalty Intelligence, and Fix Registrations.

Last Updated: October 2026

Why did I build RoyaltyCoPilot.ai?

I built RoyaltyCoPilot.ai because I found unclaimed money in my own catalog. I run Mighty Maverick Music, an independent label and publisher with roughly 7,000 tracks, and I've spent years in sync licensing and publishing. Even with a publishing admin deal and a direct YouTube Content ID relationship, I kept finding songs where a registration was missing at one society, a split was wrong, or a work had never been matched to its recordings. If that was happening to someone who does this for a living, I knew it was happening to almost every independent writer out there.

The problem isn't that the money doesn't exist. The problem is that royalties flow through a handful of separate systems that don't talk to each other, and each one only pays you if your data is right inside that specific system. A song can be perfectly registered at BMI and invisible at The MLC. RoyaltyCoPilot.ai exists to put all of those systems side by side, so the gaps show up in one place instead of hiding in five.

How much money goes unclaimed in music royalties?

The scale is large and well documented. When The MLC launched in 2021, it received more than $424 million in historical unmatched mechanical royalties from streaming services (Billboard, February 2021). As of July 2026, roughly $225 million of that, about 57 percent, had been matched and paid out, according to InterSpace Music's reporting on MLC figures. That leaves a large balance from the early years still waiting on correct data.

The ongoing flow matters even more than the old black box. The MLC distributed $775.5 million in royalties across its 12 monthly distributions in 2025, and its average match rate was 85% at initial processing, rising to 90% after reprocessing (The MLC Quarter Note, Q1 2026). That 10–15% gap between what comes in and what gets matched on the first pass is where independent writers lose money every single month.

What happens to unmatched royalties at The MLC?

This is the part every songwriter should pay attention to right now. Under the Music Modernization Act, royalties that stay unmatched long enough can be distributed by market share, meaning they go to existing rights holders in proportion to how much they already earn. In practice that favors the largest publishers, not the independent writer whose song actually generated the money.

The MLC has announced that remaining unmatched and unclaimed blanket royalties will begin to be distributed starting in early 2027, beginning with usage from January 2021 (The MLC Quarter Note, Q1 2026). If your works from 2021 forward aren't registered and matched before that process reaches them, that money can go to someone else. RoyaltyCoPilot.ai was built to give writers a fast way to check their exposure before that window closes.

How does RoyaltyCoPilot.ai work?

RoyaltyCoPilot.ai works in five steps, which are the same five steps shown in the launch video:

Scan your catalog by artist name. Enter an artist name and it pulls the catalog from Spotify, then checks each song's registrations across The MLC, SoundExchange, and your PRO. No spreadsheet upload is needed to start.
Explore your royalty dashboard. The dashboard rolls up how many songs have issues, which sources they affect, and an estimated total where streaming data is available.
Review song details in My Works. Every work gets its own page showing what's registered where, who's listed as a writer or publisher, and what's missing.
Investigate potential gaps with Royalty Intelligence. This is the analysis layer. It explains why a gap exists, for example a missing ISRC link at The MLC, a work registered at your PRO but not at The MLC, or a recording that isn't registered at SoundExchange.
Take action in Fix Registrations. The app can file MLC claims, prepare SoundExchange submissions, and prefill PRO registration forms. You approve every filing before anything is submitted.

The estimates are just that: estimates. Public data can't confirm ownership, territory, reporting periods, or what's already been paid, so every number in the app is a starting point for review, not a balance owed to you.

What royalty sources does RoyaltyCoPilot.ai check?

It checks the three U.S. collection systems where independent writers most often fall through the cracks. Each one pays a different royalty, and being registered at one does nothing for the other two.

Source	What it collects	Who it pays	Common gap the scan looks for
The MLC	Digital mechanical royalties from U.S. streaming and downloads	Songwriters and publishers	Work not registered, or not matched to its recordings (ISRCs)
SoundExchange	Digital performance royalties from non-interactive streaming (SiriusXM, Pandora radio, webcasters)	Recording owners and featured/non-featured artists	Recording or artist not registered
PROs (BMI, ASCAP, and others)	Public performance royalties for the composition	Songwriters and publishers	Work missing, splits incomplete, or writer not affiliated

A single song can generate money in all three columns at once. If you wrote it, recorded it, and released it yourself, you're owed composition money and master money, and each piece needs its own registration.

How much does RoyaltyCoPilot.ai cost?

There's a free tier and a low-cost paid tier, and neither takes a cut of your royalties. Your royalty sources keep paying you directly, the same as they do today.

Free Scan ($0, no credit card). One Royalty Profile, connected sources, a full scan, your estimated missing total, issue counts by category, and song-level issue detail.
Artist ($12/month). Everything in Free Scan plus source-level detail, guided fixes, user-approved registrations and claims, monthly monitoring, a royalty dashboard, and multiple Royalty Profiles.
Publishing Admin (10% of royalties collected, no monthly fee). For writers who want it done for them: we register, claim, collect, and pay you out. Applications are reviewed individually, and the fee applies only to money actually collected.

Most independent writers should start with the free scan. If it turns up nothing, you've lost a few minutes. If it turns up gaps, you'll know exactly where they are.

Can I use RoyaltyCoPilot.ai with ChatGPT or Claude?

Yes. Every account can connect to Claude or ChatGPT through a link, so you can ask questions about your catalog in plain English: which songs have the biggest estimated gaps, which works aren't registered at The MLC, or what changed since last month. I use it this way myself across the Mighty Maverick Music catalog because it turns a dashboard into a conversation. You still approve every registration and claim; the AI connection reads your data, it doesn't file anything on its own.

Who is RoyaltyCoPilot.ai for?

It's built for three groups who tend to fall between the cracks of the big publishing systems:

Self-released artists who write their own songs. You're owed both composition and master royalties, and distributors like DistroKid or CD Baby only handle part of that picture.
Songwriters without a publisher. Without an admin, nobody is checking whether your works are registered and matched at The MLC.
Independent publishers and small labels. If you manage dozens or thousands of works, it gives you one place to see which ones are leaking.

If you already have a major publishing admin deal, a scan is still worth running. Admin deals cover what's delivered to them; they don't always catch a recording that was never linked to its work, or a song released before the deal started.

Is my data safe when I connect my MLC account?

Connecting an MLC account lets the app read your works, statements, and claims so it can compare them against what's out in the world. Nothing gets registered or claimed without your explicit approval, and you can disconnect any source at any time in Settings. It never becomes the payee on your existing royalties unless you sign up for the Publishing Admin service and sign an administration agreement.

What should I do first if I think I'm missing royalties?

Start with the easiest check and work outward. A practical order looks like this:

Run a free artist scan on RoyaltyCoPilot.ai to see which songs have gaps and which sources they're in.
Confirm your PRO affiliation as both a writer and, if you self-publish, a publisher.
Register as a member at The MLC and make sure every work is registered with complete splits and linked recordings.
Register your recordings and yourself as an artist at SoundExchange.
Set up monthly monitoring so new releases get checked automatically instead of once a year when you remember.

Given The MLC's early-2027 timeline for distributing long-unmatched royalties, the order of operations matters less than starting now.

Quick reference

Product: RoyaltyCoPilot.ai
What it does: Finds and helps fix royalty registration gaps
Sources checked: The MLC, SoundExchange, PROs (BMI, ASCAP)
Pricing: Free Scan $0; Artist $12/month; Publishing Admin 10% of collected royalties
Founder: Rick Seibold
Website: royaltycopilot.ai

Frequently asked questions

Is the RoyaltyCoPilot.ai scan really free? Yes. The artist scan and the Free Scan account cost nothing and don't require a credit card. You see your estimated missing total, issue counts, and song-level detail before deciding whether to upgrade.

Does RoyaltyCoPilot.ai take a percentage of my royalties? Not on the Free Scan or Artist plans. Your royalties keep paying you directly from The MLC, SoundExchange, and your PRO. Only the optional Publishing Admin service charges a fee, 10% of royalties it actually collects.

Are the dollar amounts RoyaltyCoPilot.ai shows guaranteed? No. They're estimates based on public streaming data. Ownership, territory, reporting periods, and prior payments all have to be confirmed before any amount can be considered owed.

What's the difference between The MLC and my PRO? The MLC collects mechanical royalties from U.S. streaming services, while PROs like BMI and ASCAP collect public performance royalties. They are separate payments, and a song needs to be registered at both to collect both.

Do I need a publisher to use RoyaltyCoPilot.ai? No. Most users are self-published songwriters and independent artists. It's designed to cover the registration work a publisher would normally handle.

What happens to unclaimed MLC royalties if I don't register? Under the Music Modernization Act, long-unmatched royalties can be distributed by market share to existing rights holders. The MLC has said that process will start in early 2027, beginning with January 2021 usage.

Can RoyaltyCoPilot.ai file registrations for me? Yes, with your approval. It can file MLC claims, prepare SoundExchange submissions, and prefill PRO forms, and the Publishing Admin service can handle registrations and collection entirely.

What music is in the RoyaltyCoPilot.ai launch video? The track is "Gimme That New Thing" by 3 One Oh.

Start with one scan

I built RoyaltyCoPilot.ai to answer one question for every independent writer: is all of my money actually reaching me? The answer for most of us is "not quite," and the fix is usually a handful of registrations. Run a free artist scan at royaltycopilot.ai and see what turns up in your catalog.

Sources

The MLC, The MLC Quarter Note, Q1 2026
The MLC / Billboard, The MLC Receives Over $424M in Unmatched "Black Box" Streaming Royalties (February 2021)
InterSpace Music, The MLC has paid out billions; the money stuck in its black box gets split by market share (July 2026)