SoundExchange royalties from US satellite radio and webcasts are split by federal law, and 45 percent of every play goes to the featured artist, not the label.
That share never appears on your distributor’s DSP statement. It waits at SoundExchange until the artist registers, and the federal rules give unmatched money a three-year life.
SoundExchange distributed an unaudited $991.5 million in 2025, down 5.9 percent on 2024, according to its March 2026 results. Here is how that money is cut, what a play is worth, and what to file.
Who pays, and how the split works
SoundExchange is the US collective for non-interactive digital performance royalties. Non-interactive means the listener cannot pick the next song: satellite radio, internet radio and broadcasters’ online streams, not on-demand plays on Spotify or Apple Music.
More than 3,600 services pay it, according to its FAQ. The split is fixed in 17 U.S.C. 114(g)(2):
- 50 percent to the sound recording copyright owner (the label, or you if you self-release)
- 45 percent to the featured artist
- 2.5 percent to a fund for non-featured musicians
- 2.5 percent to a fund for non-featured vocalists
What one play is worth in 2026
A performance is one listener hearing one song. Radio broadcasters streaming their stations online pay $0.0028 per performance in 2026, rising to $0.0032 by 2030, under an NAB and SoundExchange settlement the Copyright Royalty Board adopted in March 2026 (37 CFR 380.41).
SiriusXM’s satellite service pays 15.5 percent of gross revenues through 2027 (37 CFR 382.21).
Take a track with 200,000 performances on broadcaster streams in a year:
- Gross royalty: $560
- Rights owner: $280
- Featured artist: $252
- Non-featured funds: $28
SoundExchange then deducts an administrative fee it puts at 4 to 6 percent.
Why a distribution deal does not collect it
Your distributor collects what DSPs pay for interactive streams. SoundExchange is a separate pipe, and the federal rules say it pays only those who give it the information needed to identify and pay them, the artist directly or a designated agent.
Services report each recording by featured artist, title and ISRC, or by album title and label when the ISRC is missing (37 CFR 370.4). ISRC means International Standard Recording Code, the ID stamped on each recording at delivery.
An artist name spelled two ways, or a missing ISRC, is how plays go unmatched. Our review of three metadata failures that block royalties found the rights-owner side of SoundExchange among the most-missed registrations.
The three-year clock
Under 37 CFR 380.4(b), SoundExchange holds money it cannot match in a segregated trust account for three years from the first distribution of the relevant payment. After that, no claim is valid, and the money can be applied to its costs.
Registration is free. That is most of the argument.
Non-US artists: the 30 percent default
Foreign artists can register directly. Without a W-8BEN tax form, SoundExchange withholds 30 percent. With one, plus a tax ID from an eligible treaty country, withholding can fall.
In the example above, the artist’s $252 becomes $176.40 without the form. Artists in countries with no US income tax treaty face 30 percent either way, as our Brazil withholding explainer shows.
Payouts go monthly by direct deposit once $100 accrues, or quarterly from $10, in local currency for Canada, the UK, the eurozone and other markets. PayPal is open to international individuals.
The five-step checklist
- Register as a featured artist with SoundExchange, free.
- If you own your masters, register as rights owner too. If a label does, ask for proof it registered.
- Make the artist name and ISRCs in your SoundExchange catalogue match your delivered releases exactly.
- File a Letter of Direction to pay producers or mixers from your 45 percent. SoundExchange says it is not retroactive unless the letter says so.
- Outside the US, file the W-8BEN with your tax ID before the first payment.
Whoever distributes your music, InterSpace Distribution included, the ISRCs on your release records are the keys a SoundExchange claim is matched against. Copy them across exactly.
Other markets treat this right differently: see Korea’s webcast reciprocity and Jamaica’s missing radio right.
