Next Steps — Your 30-Day Royalty Checklist

You've now seen every major royalty stream. Here's a 30-day execution checklist:

Week 1 — Foundations

• Register with one PRO (BMI / ASCAP)
• Create your publishing entity
• Register with SoundExchange (free)
• Save your IPI number somewhere you won't lose it

Week 2 — Distribution

• Pick one distributor (Distrokid / Tunecore / CD Baby)
• Upload your catalog
• Capture every ISRC and UPC in a spreadsheet

Week 3 — International + Tracking

• Sign up for Songtrust (or distributor's pub admin equivalent)
• Register with Mediabase + Soundscan
• Claim every DSP artist profile

Week 4 — Sync + Future Income

• Build a sync-ready folder: WAV, MP3, stems, clean + explicit, mastered
• Identify 3 sync libraries to submit to
• Schedule a quarterly review of your metadata + splits

Protect your work. Collect what you've earned. Build the business that lets you keep making the music.

— Brian Sykes, Unchained Genius