Why Am I Not Getting Paid for My Streams?

You released the songs. The stream counts climb. And the money is… a distributor deposit that wouldn't cover strings. Before you conclude streaming just doesn't pay, know this: every stream generates several separate royalties, and each one travels a different pipe. Most 'missing money' is a pipe you never connected.

Where the money actually flows

• Recording royalties come through your distributor — this is the deposit you already see

• Performance royalties on the composition flow through a PRO (ASCAP, BMI…) — only to members, only for registered works

• US streaming mechanicals flow through The MLC — self-published writers must register there separately, or the money sits unmatched and is eventually redistributed

• Digital radio (Pandora, SiriusXM, webcasts) pays through SoundExchange — a completely separate registration

• International and YouTube publishing money realistically needs a publishing administrator to chase

Why this happens to almost everyone

Nobody tells you. Distributors onboard you to exactly one pipe and stay quiet about the rest — the average artist finds out about The MLC years and thousands of streams too late.

What to do this week

Take two minutes with the free revenue-leak audit — no account needed to see your biggest leak. Then, in a free account, the royalty hub turns it into a checklist: per-song registration status across all five pipes, dollar estimates on every open leak, and each fix synced into your career roadmap so it actually gets done. If publishing administration turns out to be your gap, get connected and we'll match you with a vetted provider — that's free too.

All of it lives in one free Musavise account — free means free, within honest limits, and your data exports whenever you want it. Create your free account; it takes about two minutes.