Unmatched royalties (usage not linked to a work) and unclaimed royalties (work identified, owner share unclaimed) together form "unclaimed accrued royalties", tracked by monthly usage cohort. Disputed amounts are held separately.
Mini box
In the pipeline
Unmatched usage
Unclaimed shares
Payee can't be found
Disputed
Expired
Sealed
Lit: compartments used and exit chute(s).
01
Its rules
Runs under the US Music Modernization Act: unmatched mechanical royalties are held, then distributed by market share after a statutory wait.
Rights it handles
Mechanical (blanket streaming)
Holds a pool?
Yes, by cohort
Evidence level
Official quantitative
02
How it distributes money
How often matched money is paid out, and how members can find what's theirs.
Payment cadence
Monthly blanket distributions
Data maturity tier
A
03
How it handles unresolved royalties
How long money waits, when the clock starts, and where it goes if nobody claims it.
Holding clock
Statutory minimum ≥3 yrs; first cohort held >6 yrs
Clock starts
Usage month
Exit chute
Relative market-share distribution from Apr 2027, one usage month per calendar month, per DSP/offering, allocated down to songs, with statutory interest where due
Late claims after expiry
Not publicly disclosed
Lifecycle path
1
Collect
DSPs report usage and pay
Monthly
2
Match
Unmatched usage reprocessed
Ongoing
3
Claim
Unclaimed shares held; disputes apart
Ongoing
4
Hold
Statutory hold
≥3 yrs; first cohort >6 yrs
5
Redistribute
By relative market share
From Apr 2027
Published figures
in the box
$6.22m
Jan 2021 cohort still unresolved (11.55% of $53.88m pool) = $3.15m unmatched + $3.07m unclaimed
Source: The MLC cohort dashboard, Jan 2021 usage
From the original research
rate
$47.55m
Jan 2021 cohort distributed (88.26%); $0.10m disputed
Source: The MLC cohort dashboard, Jan 2021 usage
From the original research
in the box
$519.8m
Pending end 2024: $273.8m unmatched + $225.2m unclaimed + $20.8m held
Source: The MLC, end 2024
From the original research
in the box
$260.5m
Blanket unclaimed end 2025 (6.2% of pools)
Source: The MLC, end 2025
From the original research
held
$26.2m
Held (disputed) end 2025
Source: The MLC, end 2025
From the original research
rate
~90%
Current match rate after reprocessing (~85% initial)
Source: The MLC
From the original research
scale
$239.96m
Historical (2007–2020) of $397.29m distributed (60.4%), Oct 2026
Source: The MLC historical royalties recap, Oct 2026
From the original research
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Filter by model
DSPs
Venues
Broadcasters
Licensees
intake slot
Unresolved royalties · 7 compartments live
Looks like black box, usually isn't: still inside the normal processing cycle.
3 societies
Usage can't yet be linked to a musical work.
7 societies
Work identified, but an ownership share has no payable claimant.
7 societies
Owner known, but can't be located or paid.
4 societies
Withheld while ownership or entitlement is contested.
3 societies
Holding period over; ready to leave via a chute.
9 societies
Contents not publicly disclosed — which is NOT the same as empty.
3 societies
Back to rightsholders
Market share, proxy usage, or allocation key
Cultural / social funds
Funds for cultural and social purposes
Governance decides
General assembly / board sets use
Return to payer
Credited back to the record company
APRA AMCOS also uses proxy redistribution via its General Control Account.
Reserve / fund
Compensation reserve, then broadcasting fund
Applies to unidentified foreign works only.
State escheatment
Uncashed known-payee money
Not disclosed
No public exit rule located
Society by society
The full rulebook
Open any society to read its rules, how it distributes money, and what happens to royalties nobody can match or claim.
Unmatched royalties (usage not linked to a work) and unclaimed royalties (work identified, owner share unclaimed) together form "unclaimed accrued royalties", tracked by monthly usage cohort. Disputed amounts are held separately.
Rules
Runs under the US Music Modernization Act: unmatched mechanical royalties are held, then distributed by market share after a statutory wait.
Rights
Mechanical (blanket streaming)
Holds a pool?
Yes, by cohort
Distribution
Payment cadence
Monthly blanket distributions
Unresolved handling
Holding clock
Statutory minimum ≥3 yrs; first cohort held >6 yrs
Clock starts
Usage month
Exit
Relative market-share distribution from Apr 2027, one usage month per calendar month, per DSP/offering, allocated down to songs, with statutory interest where due
By law, societies must search for and disclose unidentified rightsholders. Money unresolved 3 years after the end of the financial year of collection becomes "non-distributable", and the society's governance decides its use. Driven by EU Directive 2014/26/EU; the UK kept the same rule in its 2016 Regulations.
The Music Modernization Act lets The MLC hold unmatched and unclaimed mechanical royalties for a statutory minimum of 3 years, then distribute them by relative market share to identified owners.
No dedicated pool for unidentified shares; distribution methodology, proxies and later adjustments absorb them. Only uncashed money owed to known payees is held, and eventually escheated to states.
Equal bars are not legally equivalent. A 3-year clock that starts at the usage month ends earlier than one that starts at the end of the collection financial year, and JASRAC's applies to unidentified foreign works only.
Pick a society and describe a statistic. AI searches the web for the most recent published figure and cites its sources. Always check the source before relying on it.
Keep your money out of the box
BeatStars Publishing
Most black-box money exists because songs aren't registered, matched or claimed in time. BeatStars Publishing registers your compositions with collecting societies worldwide and collects the publishing royalties you're owed, before the clock runs out.