Brazilian public-performance royalties can be earned without reaching the right person. When Ecad, the country’s central collection office, cannot match a reported use to a registered work, recording or rights holder, it holds the credit while the data is corrected. Ecad says the correction window is five years; after that, unidentified money is redistributed within its original category.
That makes a catalogue audit a cash-flow task, not just metadata housekeeping. For a self-releasing artist, the first question is whether the composition and the recording have both been registered with a Brazilian collecting association, and whether the names on those records match the usage report.
What does a retained credit mean?
A retained credit is money already associated with a captured music use but not yet payable to an identified claimant. Ecad lists missing or inconsistent registrations, conflicting ownership information and gaps in work or recording data among the causes. It says the rights holder obtains a retained-credit report through their association, which also makes the corrections needed to release the money.
The distinction between a song and its recording matters. UBC, the Brazilian Union of Composers, says the work registration names the songwriters and any publisher, while the phonogram registration names performers, accompanying musicians and the producer responsible for the recording. A distributor’s delivery record is useful evidence, but it does not replace either association record. International Standard Recording Code, or ISRC, identifies the recording; it is not a substitute for a complete work registration.
Run the audit from the association outward
Start in your association’s catalogue portal. Compare every work title, writer name and ownership share against the release paperwork. Then compare the recording entry with the same master delivered to platforms: ISRC, performer names and producer details. UBC’s member guide describes Retido Web as a search for credits held because of missing registrations, title errors or other inconsistencies. Its portal also lets members check registered works, recordings and earnings.
If the search finds a possible match, send the association the work and recording identifiers, alternate spellings, release metadata and evidence of the relevant use. Ask which field prevents identification and who must approve the correction. The association, not the digital distributor, controls the collective-management record and the request to release an Ecad credit. Keep the correspondence and check the next statement rather than assuming an amended title triggers immediate payment.
For a collaborative record, check each side separately. A writer’s missing share can hold up composition income even when the master owner has a clean distribution statement; a missing performer or producer can create a different recording-side problem. UBC’s guide says works are declared by the writer or, for an edited work, by the publisher, while the phonographic producer registers the recording. Agree in advance which partner submits each record.
Do not treat the five years as a payment forecast
Ecad’s five years describe the period for regularising an unidentified credit, not a promise that every missing royalty exists or that a corrected entry will pay on a fixed date. Its rights-holder guide shows the chain: public use, user payment, capture, identification, distribution to the association, then payment to the artist. A break at any point requires a different investigation.
That is why a label should reconcile three ledgers: the distributor’s platform statement, the association’s work and recording registrations, and the association’s retained-credit report. A Spotify stream in the first ledger is not proof of a retained Ecad credit in the third. Ask for the use period and category before estimating recoverable income.
Brazilian radio and shop plays make this particularly concrete. Our guide to record-side radio royalties explains why the registration route matters; our shop-music reporting analysis explains why identifying the use matters. Together, those checks turn a vague complaint about missing royalties into a documented claim an association can investigate.
The practical rule is simple: before the next release, assign one person to verify both registrations and save the evidence. Then review retained credits at each reporting cycle. A distributor with clean delivery metadata and transparent statements makes that reconciliation easier, but the final correction still happens at the rights society.
