A digital release does not guarantee digital registration of its songwriting rights in Poland. ZAiKS, the Polish Society of Authors, routes some co-written songs through paper filing even when the recording is already on streaming services. The deciding detail is the co-writer’s rights status, not the distributor used for the master.
This matters to a label sending a Polish collaboration to Spotify, YouTube or radio: the recording can be delivered while the composition still lacks a clear route into the local royalty system. ZAiKS says a work must first have been disseminated, for example through a concert performance, a released recording or a broadcast, before it can be registered. Its registration guide lays out two filing paths.
Which co-writes can go online?
A writer can use zaiks.online for their own music or lyrics. For a collaboration, ZAiKS also allows online registration when the other living writer has a ZAiKS management agreement and has previously submitted at least one work on paper. A co-writer who belongs to a foreign society qualifies for the online path only if that society has already registered this work.
That last condition is easy to miss. Membership in a foreign society alone is not the same as a matching work registration there. Before filing, ask each collaborator for the society name, their registered writer identity and confirmation that the song itself is in that society’s database. Put the agreed composition shares beside the release metadata so the names and percentages can be compared.
Outside that specified foreign-society exception, ZAiKS sends works made with a person who has not signed its collective management agreement to the traditional, paper route. The same applies to derivatives and adaptations, and to works with a deceased co-author whose rights remain protected; the latter need written agreement from the heirs. Those are ZAiKS’s published eligibility rules, not a judgment about whether the song can be commercially released.
A Polish bank account changes the onboarding route
The online account setup described by ZAiKS uses MojeID, an identity check through Polish online banking. The society says that route is available only to creators with Polish bank accounts. It also asks applicants using it to send two original, signed copies of the collective management agreement by post before submitting works through the portal.
A writer without a Polish bank account has a different first step: complete a paper Personal Data Form, have their identity verified by a notary or at a ZAiKS branch, and deliver that form with two signed originals of the agreement. Once ZAiKS enters the data, that writer can create an online account without MojeID. The society gives its Warsaw address and registration contact on the same instructions page.
These are two separate gates. An account opened after paper identity verification does not make every co-write eligible for online work registration. Check the collaborator rule for each song before choosing the submission channel.
Make the split sheet do more than settle an argument
For a three-writer session, the useful pre-release document is a signed split sheet with the song title, legal names, credited names, societies and composition percentages. Then confirm whether each writer has registered the work with their own society. If a collaborator cannot confirm that, budget time for ZAiKS’s paper process or ask the society which party should file. Do this before the first Polish exploitation report arrives.
There is a measurable reason to treat registration as part of release operations. Our analysis of ZAiKS’s 2025 accounts found 205.4 million zloty in allocated but unpaid royalties at year-end; the figure comes from the society’s statutory report. That total covers several documentation and contact failures, not solely paper filing. Metadata mismatches can compound the problem.
ZAiKS manages composition rights, including public performance, broadcast and online uses, under a collective management agreement. A distributor handles delivery and accounting for the recording. InterSpace Distribution can keep recording credits and label splits visible, but the writers or their publishing representatives still need to establish the composition claim. One release checklist should track both sides.
