Exploration Weekly - MLC Launches Unclaimed Royalties Portal / 73M US Music Listeners on Social Video Services / PRS for Music Reveals Online Portal

Aaron Davis -




Exploration’s Stories & Lessons Podcast Episode 2 is out now, featuring an update at large by CEO/Co-Founder Aaron Davis. Thank you for lending your eyes and ears. Take a listen (or watch) here!


This week, the MLC launched the Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP) in order to help indie distributors and artists access a custom dashboard that will show them accrued unmatched mechanical royalties for sound recordings they’ve distributed. The metadata comes from usage reports delivered to the MLC by streaming service providers.

According to MusicWatch, 73 million US listeners engaged with music on a social video platform such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts in the past three months. The report further estimates that there are now 86 million self-pay subscribers to music services in the US.

PRS for Music is set to roll out a metadata-powered online portal by early 2023 that the organization says will provide “unprecedented access to songwriter credits and industry identifiers.” There will be metadata from over 2 million works, according to PRS.

In this newsletter:

Now, the details...
Compiled by Heidi Seo


Exploration Weekly - September 30, 2022

MLC to Help Indie Distributors Find Unclaimed Royalties with New Portal

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) has launched the Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP), designed to help more independent distributors and artists get paid what they’re due, the organization announced on Sept. 27. To help distributors navigate the portal, a free webinar will be led by DURP’s project lead, Dae Bogan, on Oct. 14 — though it can be used right away if distributors request access. Once approved, distributors will be granted access to a custom dashboard revealing publicly available data for sound recordings they’ve distributed, for which the MLC has accrued unmatched mechanical royalties. The data is derived from usage reports delivered to the MLC by streaming sites including Spotify, Apple Music, and more.

Report: 73M Americans Listen to Music on Social Video Services

Research company MusicWatch has published some new data on music listening in the US, including some stats on the impact of social media platforms. “On a past three-month basis 73 million listened to music on a social video platform such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts,” claimed the report. “On average, users of social video apps who are listening to content with or about music are spending nearly 8 hours per week on those platforms.” MusicWatch also offered some numbers for the growth in streaming listeners in the US, estimating that “there are an additional 10M more music streamers in the US compared with year-ago, and 20M more relative to early-pandemic Q2 2020”. MusicWatch also estimates that there are now 86 million self-pay subscribers to music services in the US, or 97 million if you include satellite radio service SiriusXM.

PRS for Music Announces “New Online Portal” for Songwriter Credits, Says It’s “Putting the Power of Metadata Into the Hands of Creators”

PRS for Music has announced plans to launch a metadata-powered “online portal” that it says will provide “unprecedented access to songwriter credits and industry identifiers.” According to the more than century-old entity, the “pioneering” digital resource will be “free to access” and will publish “songwriter and composer credits alongside its critical links between works and recordings identifiers.” PRS intends to equip the virtual platform with “metadata attributed to over 2 million works” at the outset, communicated execs, who are likewise planning to make available metadata for “millions more” works during the 12 months following the project’s “early 2023” rollout.

Deezer Vows to Turn Profitable by 2025 as H1 Losses Shrink by €8.8M

French online music streaming platform Deezer has pledged to turn in a profit by 2025 as its losses narrowed by USD $8.5 million in the first half of the year. That’s according to the company’s half-year results, for the six-month period ending 30 June 2022, published on Sept. 22. In the first half of the year, the company lost 300,000 subscribers as it failed to keep and attract users outside its home market. Despite the loss in user numbers, Deezer managed to rake in €219.4 million in revenue in the first half of the year, up 12.1% from a year ago. The streaming service remains bullish on its potential to turn in a profit in the next three years as it doubles down on its new B2C/B2B strategy of deepening its focus on large attractive markets via a so-called ‘partnership-first go-to-market model’.

“The Industry is Prepared”: How Tech is Turning Up the Volume in the Nigerian Music Biz

Technology is the canon launching the Nigerian music industry. With a large youth population helping to grow mobile internet penetration (which doubled in 2014, growing to 32% by 2019), and 170 million mobile phone users with records of continuous increase, the advent of streaming in the country has unlocked its music industry’s potential. Digital music consumption contributed the largest portion of the industry’s revenue pool in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. According to IMF reports, the industry is projected to generate $10.8 billion in revenue by 2023, accounting for 1.4% of the country’s GDP. “Technology is the way of life for artists now. It is the way to reach millions of people,” says FAVE, a 21-year-old rising Nigerian singer-songwriter. “We cannot overemphasize the impact of data in music right now, or generally in the world.”

Believe Makes Series of Leadership Hires and Promotions in Southeast Asia

France-born distribution and services company Believe has made several new appointments in its Southeast Asia (SEA) leadership team. The company has promoted Antoine El Iman to Managing Director of Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand, Dahlia Wijaya to Country Director, Indonesia, Georgette Tengco, to Country Director, Philippines, and Somwalee Limrachtamorn, to Country Director, Thailand. Believe says that its new leadership team members will be “key in driving the growth of local acts, rising alongside the boom in the Southeast Asian music market”.

Random Ramblings

  • Five ways to make money from your music from Billboard Latin Week.
  • Exhibition in Manchester to look at the emotional impact of music.
  • MIDiA Research: YouTube's secret weapon for overtaking Spotify.
  • A brief introduction to samplers.
  • What do artists think about music streaming?

Who is Exploration?

Exploration is proud to be the company of choice to administer much of the world’s most important media. We rely on advanced technology and a competent, full-time staff of 50+ people to help our clients and partners better control their data and collect their money.

We wrote a free book on how the music business works.

Download our catalog metadata template, which offers the minimum viable data needed to collect publishing royalties.

To see who is collecting your royalties, request a free copyright audit.