Thailand’s unmatched composition royalties can sit in suspense for two years before reallocation. That is the rule for a musical work with no usable documentation when even an international society match fails. It is a practical deadline for writers and publishers who assume a distributor’s recording metadata also registers their song.
The distinction matters because Music Copyright (Thailand), or MCT, administers rights in the musical work: the composition and lyrics. Its own description says it represents composers and authors, while its FAQ separates MCT’s work rights from Phonorights’ sound recording rights. A recording delivered to a digital service is therefore a different claim from a songwriter’s share of public performance or reproduction income.
Three kinds of missing money
MCT’s September 2024 distribution rules distinguish a known nonmember, a disputed share and an unidentifiable work. Treating all three as one pot of “unclaimed royalties” conceals the action needed to release each one.
For an MCT-originated work with an identifiable interested party who is not a member, section 10.1 says the relevant share goes into a nonmember special account. MCT retains it until that party becomes a member, then disburses the held amount in the next distribution period or the specified timeframe. The two-year rule is not stated for this account.
A disputed share follows a separate route. MCT’s rules allow a written dispute notice to place that share in suspense; settlement terms determine its eventual distribution. A missing co-writer’s membership and a contested co-writer split are therefore different problems. The first calls for a membership and work-record check; the second needs evidence of the agreed split.
The two-year clock applies to the third category. Section 10.3 says royalties with no documentation, where the CISAC Warsaw Rule cannot identify an affiliated society, remain in an undistributable account for two years. CISAC means the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. MCT may make retrospective payments after verification during that period; unsupported balances then return to the distribution system in the next allocation cycle. That is a rule about unmatched work-rights income, not a blanket expiry date for every Thai royalty.
Register the work before the statement arrives
MCT asks songwriter and publisher members to notify it when a work is created or published. Its rules set an end-of-September notification deadline, announced to members at the start of each calendar year, for works created in the preceding year. Late notices miss the current distribution and enter through an adjustment at the next one. Check the society’s notice for the applicable year’s deadline rather than assuming a release-date upload did the job.
Build a record for every composition: title and alternate titles, composers, lyricists, publisher, each party’s agreed share, and a recording identifier that helps reconcile usage. Keep the signed split agreement beside it. The identifier helps connect a recording to a work; it does not replace the work notification or establish who wrote the song.
Then compare MCT’s statement with the usage you can document: broadcast dates, venue setlists and platform reports. MCT says radio and television analysis uses usage reports and music fingerprinting, while some public-use categories rely on alternative pools when direct reports are unavailable. A missing line may therefore be a reporting or matching question, not proof that a venue or service paid nothing.
Read the payout cycle correctly
MCT says it distributes four times a year, in March, June, September and December, for royalties collected in the previous January-to-December year. A payment after a successful adjustment need not appear in the same quarter as the stream or performance. Its distribution codes also distinguish local performing royalties, overseas performing royalties, mechanical royalties and synchronization fees.
For a Thai indie label, the operational test is simple: reconcile the master statement from the distributor with the composition statement from the relevant rights administrator. If the artist also writes the song, both ledgers matter. A distributor with clear recording metadata and transparent split reporting makes that comparison easier, but the songwriter still needs an accurate work registration and a route to claim unmatched income.
