A study of some of the best-selling albums of all time found recordings linked to multiple musical-work records, including records for unrelated songs. The mismatches raise questions about how composition royalties are allocated, though the study could not establish whether any payments were affected.
What the study found
AIMi Labs used an artificial intelligence (AI) music-rights research tool to examine public data from the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Its white paper, Who’s Eating Your Lunch?, assessed tracks from ten albums, including Thriller, Rumours and Hotel California.
- All 111 tracks examined were registered.
- Recorded ownership-share coverage averaged 99.3%.
- 56 tracks, or 50.5%, were associated with multiple musical-work records that warranted further investigation.
Multiple records do not necessarily indicate an error: remixes, adaptations and alternative versions can have legitimate registrations. The researchers also identified links to different compositions. Recordings of Fleetwood Mac‘s “Don’t Stop” were associated with Christine McVie’s composition, Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was associated with eight additional work records beyond Stevie Nicks’ correctly registered composition. Michael Jackson‘s “The Lady in My Life” was linked to “Thriller,” another composition written by Rod Temperton.
Limits and next steps
The study could not determine whether those links led to incorrect royalty payments or calculate any amount involved. The MLC’s public data does not show individual royalty transactions.
The paper also identifies missing registrations as a concern for creators without professional publishing administration. Its findings show that a registered recording can have apparently complete ownership shares while remaining linked to the wrong composition.
AIMi’s platform has investigated tens of thousands of musical works, flagging contradictory rights data for human review. A free catalogue-auditing service for songwriters is scheduled to launch by the end of 2026. Pete Whelan, founder of Program Music and AIMi, is associated with the study. AIMi is calling on other collection societies to make data available for independent scrutiny, as the MLC has done.
