Canadian master owners have until September 1 of the fourth year after a royalty year to claim Re:Sound radio royalties; performers have until the sixth year. Those clocks belong in a catalogue record that survives changes to a distributor account. A delivery record tells a label where a recording was sent. It does not, by itself, show who has filed each royalty claim or when a claim expires.
Separate delivery from claims
A distributor can assign an International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) to a recording, but Dutch radio royalties still require a separate repertoire claim with Sena. The identifier helps describe the recording. The claim tells the royalty administrator who seeks payment for it. Treating those as one completed task leaves a gap in the catalogue’s records.
The gap becomes harder to see when one person performs several jobs. A self-releasing artist may need two Sena accounts, reflecting claims that should be tracked separately even when the artist controls the release. The useful question for each recording is therefore specific: which claim has been made, in which capacity, and against which version? Sena’s identification process includes version-level audio matching, so a catalogue entry that stops at a release title cannot answer every matching question.
Keep the delivery confirmation, ISRC and society claim status in different fields. That makes an empty claim field visible. It also gives whoever administers the catalogue a way to check the recording against the society’s records without assuming that store availability proves a royalty claim exists.
Give each claimant a clock
Re:Sound applies different Canadian claim windows to master owners and performers. A single reminder attached to a recording cannot represent both positions accurately. Record the royalty year and the claimant’s role, then calculate the relevant deadline for that role. The master owner’s September 1 deadline falls in the fourth year after the royalty year; the performer’s window extends to the sixth year.
That distinction matters when a label reviews an older catalogue. A recording can have a completed master-owner claim while its performer record still needs attention, or the reverse. The review should establish the status of each claim before the applicable window closes. Sena also has quarterly payments and missing-claim windows, giving a Dutch catalogue another reason to record claim dates and review unresolved matches rather than relying on a distributor’s release history.
For a practical ledger, use one row per recording and version, with linked entries for each claimant. The fields should answer questions that a delivery dashboard alone cannot settle:
- What ISRC identifies this recording, and which version does the claim cover?
- Who is claiming as master owner, and who is claiming as performer?
- Which society received each repertoire claim, and what is its current status?
- Which royalty year is under review, and what deadline applies to that claimant?
- Who will check an unmatched recording or an unfiled claim?
These are working fields, not a substitute for the society claim. Their purpose is to make the next action and its owner visible when catalogue administration changes hands.
Keep the song record beside the recording
The recording ledger needs a linked composition record. Korean streaming song royalties take at least five months from service start, according to KOMCA. For foreign co-writers affiliated with overseas societies, the Korean work registration needs an Interested Parties Information (IPI) number. That requirement concerns the work and its writers, not merely the delivered sound recording.
Before release, check that the work registration carries the relevant foreign co-writer’s IPI number. After service starts, track the song-royalty timeline separately from the recording’s delivery date. A label looking only at store status might see a live recording while missing a registration detail needed on the composition side. A label looking only at the first payment period could also mistake an expected wait for a delivery problem. The ledger should show which question is being investigated: delivery, work registration, claim matching or payment timing.
Make the ledger portable
Nebula17 signed a worldwide distribution agreement with The Orchard, illustrating a familiar division of work: a company can arrange distribution while still needing its own view of catalogue administration. The terms of any particular agreement determine the parties’ duties, but the operational record should identify the person responsible for each society claim and deadline.
Before a catalogue moves between teams or distribution arrangements, export that record with the recording identifiers, version details, claimant roles, work registrations and open claim statuses. Then review the Canadian claim years first, because the master-owner and performer windows run on different schedules. Check Dutch repertoire claims against the ISRC and version information, and check Korean work registrations for the relevant IPI numbers. That sequence turns a broad catalogue review into decisions about individual claims: file, correct, match or monitor.
