Free tool helps musicians check if they have a share of $656M in unclaimed royalties

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A developer behind independent publishing administrator Doubly has launched a free, no-signup tool that lets musicians check whether their songs have unclaimed mechanical royalties held by The MLC, a nonprofit established under the 2018 Music Modernization Act. The MLC currently holds over $656 million in unmatched royalties from digital streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, money that accumulates when songs are not properly registered or have metadata errors. Under the law, The MLC cannot hold these funds indefinitely and is set to begin redistributing them in January 2027 via a 'market share' process, which would largely benefit major publishers rather than independent artists. The tool works by scanning a Spotify artist profile, checking each release against The MLC's public data, and flagging songs as fully claimed, partially claimed, or missing, along with direct links to fix each issue. The developer says the tool was built to help the large number of independent artists and songwriters who may unknowingly lose their share of an estimated $76.61 million slated for distribution over the next 12 months.

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