Audiam estimates this amount to be as much as $5 million a day and includes everything from download stores, streaming services, scan and match locker services, digitally delivered background music, ringtones, ringback tones, text message music clips, YouTube and other digital uses.
And it gets worse - 25% of all compositions on US digital services aren't licensed at all, so that money doesn't make it back to the composer or artist either. Then you have the situations where there's lots of unpaid or unallocated money just sitting in escrow, or even worse, paid to the wrong entities.
What's the one simple thing that you can do to alleviate this situation? Make sure that you always completely fill out any documentation (including metadata) on your song when uploading to a publisher, music distribution service or performance rights organization. Sloppy paperwork leads to more problems in getting paid than anything else in this digital age, although we'll cover a number of other reasons in some upcoming posts.
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