Is your music actually registered? (Spotify doesn't count)
Being on Spotify does not mean your music is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, and without registration you cannot pursue statutory damages, even if an AI company scraped your entire catalog. When I audit established catalogs at Whetstone, 30 to 50% of works routinely turn up missing, ambiguous, or filed by a collaborator without the artist's name on them. Producers and engineers are usually worse. Two problems are stacked on top of each other right now: a proposed 43% Copyright Office fee hike that indie orgs are right to fight, and a quieter visibility gap, most artists are not unregistered because filing is expensive, they are unregistered because nobody ever told them which songs were filed, by whom, or under whose name. You do not have to wait on any of the legislation to fix it. Check what is actually on file, find the gaps, and register the works that matter.
Distribution is not registration
This is the misunderstanding that costs people the most. Your music is not automatically registered with the U.S. Copyright Office just because it is live on streaming. Distribution and registration are two different things, and only one of them gives you the right to sue for statutory damages.
It matters more than ever. The CLEAR Act, if it becomes law, would force AI companies to disclose every copyrighted work they used to train their models. That could be huge for rights holders, but it only helps you if you are registered. Without registration, you cannot claim statutory damages even if an AI company scraped your entire catalog. I have been surprised to find that even an artist client releasing through a major label had releases that were not listed with the Office at all.
The visibility gap nobody talks about
Most independent artists I work with are not unregistered because filing is too expensive. They are unregistered because nobody ever told them which songs in their catalog were filed in the first place, by whom, or under whose name. When I audit established catalogs, I routinely find 30 to 50% of works missing, ambiguous, or filed by a collaborator without the artist listed. For producers and engineers, the picture is usually worse.
That is a discoverability problem, not just an affordability one. A song can be "registered" in a way that does not actually protect you, because your name is not on it.
The cost problem is real too
The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing a 43% hike to registration fees, and A2IM and other indie organizations are pushing back. They are right to. But solving the cost problem without solving the visibility problem still leaves most indie artists exposed. Both are real. You can act on the second one today regardless of what happens to the first.
Three free moves you can make today
- Check what is actually on file. Search the Copyright Office records, or run your catalog through copyrightcheck.app by song, artist, CSV, or Spotify playlist link. Free, no login, no card.
- Find the gaps. Flag works that are missing, ambiguous, or filed without your name on them.
- Register the works that matter. Prioritize the catalog with real commercial or legal value and close the holes.
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