Within Setlists
Why Grassroots Gig Money Gets Lost
Grassroots shows are especially vulnerable to unmatched royalties when the venue is licensed but the songs are never reported.
On this page
- What black box royalties mean in live music
- Why grassroots venues produce weak performance data
- How missing songs make later allocation harder
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Introduction
Grassroots gigs are one of the weakest links in the live-music royalty chain. A small venue may pay for a music licence, ticket revenue may contribute to royalty collections, and songs may genuinely be performed in public, yet the money can still fail to reach the writers who earned it. The problem is not always that royalties are never collected. Often they are collected but cannot be matched to specific songs because nobody reports an accurate setlist, tracklist or performance record. When that happens, the money risks entering what the industry commonly calls a “black box” of unmatched or unallocated royalties, where funds are held, estimated, or eventually redistributed using proxy methods rather than direct evidence of what was actually played. [Water & Music]waterandmusic.comWater & Musicthe challenges of delivering timely royalty payments to artists12 Apr 2021 — Those unclaimed royalties end up in a “black bo…
For songwriters working in grassroots music, this creates a particular vulnerability. The smaller and less documented the performance, the less likely it is that reliable data exists to connect royalty income to the correct songs and writers.
What Black Box Royalties Mean in Live Music
In live performance licensing, collecting societies gather money from licensed venues, festivals, clubs and promoters. To distribute that money accurately, they need evidence showing which compositions were performed. Setlists, performance reports and tracklists provide that evidence. When the information is missing or incomplete, royalties can become unmatched. [PRS for Music]prsformusic.comPRS for Music Reporting live performancesPRS for MusicReporting live performances - RoyaltiesNot sure how PRS turns setlists into royalties? Here's a quick guide to how PRS colle… [BMI.com]bmi.comSource details in endnotes.
The term “black box royalties” is commonly used to describe royalties that cannot be assigned confidently to the correct rightsholders because essential ownership or usage data is absent. Industry research and policy discussions have identified unmatched royalty pools as a persistent problem across music rights systems worldwide. [ScienceDirect]sciencedirect.comScienceDirectDigital transformation, blockchain, and the music industryby A Arenal · 2024 · Cited by 16 — This issue is popularly known a… [2U.S. Copyright Office]copyright.govunclaimed royalties final reportCopyright OfficeUnclaimed Royalties: Best Practice Recommendations for…8 Jul 2021 — unclaimed accrued royalties for unmatched musical…
For live music, the issue is often straightforward:
- A venue pays licence fees.
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- Music is performed. [theguardian.com]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
- The songs played are not fully reported.
- The collecting society cannot confidently match the money to specific works.
- The money is held, estimated, or redistributed through alternative methods.
The result is that royalties generated by real performances may never reach the writers whose songs created the value in the first place.
Why Grassroots Venues Produce Weak Performance Data
Large arena tours typically have professional production teams, fixed setlists, ticketing records and established reporting processes. Grassroots venues often operate very differently.
Many small shows involve changing line-ups, support acts, open-mic performers, cover bands, songwriter rounds or DJs. Setlists may be handwritten, altered on stage, lost after the event or never recorded at all. Artists may not know that reporting performances is necessary for royalty payments, especially early in their careers. [Musicians' Union]musiciansunion.org.ukMusicians' UnionHow to Report Live Performances to PRS for Music8 Dec 2023 — Log into the PRS website · Click on Royalties, then select R…
Several structural factors make grassroots reporting difficult:
- Limited administrative resources. Small venues rarely employ dedicated staff to manage royalty reporting.
- High event volume. Hundreds of small shows can occur across a region with minimal documentation.
- Frequent performer turnover. New acts appear regularly, often without publishing knowledge or rights-management support.
- Informal performance environments. Open mics, community events and mixed bills may generate little usable paperwork.
- Cover-heavy programming. Venues may host performers playing songs written by others, increasing the importance of accurate reporting because the beneficiaries are often not on stage. [PRS for Music]prsformusic.comPRS for Music Reporting live performancesPRS for MusicReporting live performances - RoyaltiesNot sure how PRS turns setlists into royalties? Here's a quick guide to how PRS colle…
These weaknesses do not necessarily mean that licence fees are not collected. The critical failure is that the collected money becomes disconnected from the underlying songs.
How Missing Songs Make Later Allocation Harder
A common misconception is that missing setlists only delay payment. In reality, missing data can permanently reduce allocation accuracy.
Collecting societies can sometimes reconstruct performances using venue information, artist reports, historical patterns, sampling systems or manual investigations. However, reconstruction becomes harder as time passes and memories fade. An unsigned support act playing original material at a small venue may leave little trace beyond social media posts or a ticket listing. [Music Business Worldwide]musicbusinessworldwide.comSource details in endnotes.
The challenge grows when multiple unknown works are involved. If a songwriter performs unreleased material, experimental compositions or newly written songs, there may be no commercially available recordings or public references to help identify what was played. Without a reported setlist, matching becomes substantially more difficult. [Ari's Take]aristake.comlive performance royaltiesAri's TakeIf You Perform Live, You Could Be Missing Out On Lots of…1 Dec 2020 — If you perform original music, your Performing Rights…
This creates a cumulative effect:
- One missing setlist may seem insignificant.
- Thousands of missing setlists create large pools of uncertain data.
- Large pools of uncertain data encourage greater reliance on estimates and proxies.
- Independent writers become less visible within the distribution system.
The administrative gap therefore scales from individual gigs to system-wide allocation problems.
Why Redistribution Methods Are Controversial
When direct performance evidence is unavailable, collecting societies often rely on alternative allocation methods. These can include sampling, analogous distributions, historical patterns or broader market-share calculations. Such methods are intended to prevent money from remaining undistributed indefinitely, but they are controversial because they are approximations rather than direct measurements. [Water & Music]waterandmusic.comWater & Musicthe challenges of delivering timely royalty payments to artists12 Apr 2021 — Those unclaimed royalties end up in a “black bo… [The Guardian]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
Critics argue that proxy-based allocation can unintentionally favour better-documented repertoire and larger rightsholders. If the system knows much more about mainstream performances than about grassroots performances, the best-measured catalogues may receive a disproportionate share of money generated by poorly documented events. [Water & Music]waterandmusic.comWater & Musicthe challenges of delivering timely royalty payments to artists12 Apr 2021 — Those unclaimed royalties end up in a “black bo… [The Guardian]theguardian.comOnly 28% of fees paid by UK nightclubs are being correctly distributed to the creators of the music being played. This issue arises becau…
Recent reporting on UK royalty disputes highlighted concerns that money collected from more than 100,000 gigs lacked sufficient song-level information for direct allocation, raising questions about how unassigned funds are ultimately redistributed. Critics contend that this creates a risk that grassroots activity subsidises larger catalogues, while collecting societies maintain that they use established processes and continue investing in better data collection. [The Guardian]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
The debate is not simply about accounting. It is about whether the creators whose songs were actually performed receive payment, or whether imperfect information causes value to flow elsewhere.
The Grassroots Cost of Incomplete Reporting
For a major songwriter with millions of streams, one missing pub gig may have little financial impact. For emerging writers, the effect can be more meaningful because grassroots performance income is built from many small payments rather than a few large ones.
A songwriter who performs dozens of licensed venue shows each year may generate a steady stream of live royalties if performances are reported correctly. Organisations such as PRS, BMI, ASCAP and SOCAN all provide mechanisms for submitting live-performance information because they recognise that accurate reporting is necessary to connect performances to payments. [PRS for Music]prsformusic.comPRS for Music Reporting live performancesPRS for MusicReporting live performances - RoyaltiesNot sure how PRS turns setlists into royalties? Here's a quick guide to how PRS colle… [BMI.com]bmi.comSource details in endnotes.
When those reports never arrive, the performance can effectively disappear from the royalty system. The venue may have paid. The audience may have heard the songs. The performance may have generated royalty value. Yet without reliable song-level data, the money risks becoming part of a broader unmatched pool rather than reaching the writers who created the music. [Water & Music]waterandmusic.comWater & Musicthe challenges of delivering timely royalty payments to artists12 Apr 2021 — Those unclaimed royalties end up in a “black bo…
This is why missing setlists matter far beyond administrative convenience. At the grassroots level, they are one of the primary mechanisms by which genuine live-performance income can become black box royalty money.
Endnotes
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Source: bmi.com
Link: https://www.bmi.com/special/bmi_live -
Source: sciencedirect.com
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596124001149Source snippet
ScienceDirectDigital transformation, blockchain, and the music industryby A Arenal · 2024 · Cited by 16 — This issue is popularly known a...
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Source: copyright.gov
Title: unclaimed royalties final report
Link: https://www.copyright.gov/policy/unclaimed-royalties/unclaimed-royalties-final-report.pdfSource snippet
Copyright OfficeUnclaimed Royalties: Best Practice Recommendations for...8 Jul 2021 — unclaimed accrued royalties for unmatched musical...
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Source: waterandmusic.com
Link: https://www.waterandmusic.com/understanding-music-rights-data-the-challenges-of-delivering-timely-royalty-payments-to-artists/Source snippet
Water & Musicthe challenges of delivering timely royalty payments to artists12 Apr 2021 — Those unclaimed royalties end up in a “black bo...
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Source: theguardian.com
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/04/songwriters-royalties-uk-gigs-prs-for-musicSource snippet
Although PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated...
-
Source: prsformusic.com
Title: PRS for Music Reporting live performances
Link: https://www.prsformusic.com/royalties/report-live-performancesSource snippet
PRS for MusicReporting live performances - RoyaltiesNot sure how PRS turns setlists into royalties? Here's a quick guide to how PRS colle...
-
Source: musiciansunion.org.uk
Link: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/working-performing/gigs-and-live-performances/how-to-report-live-performances-to-prs-for-musicSource snippet
Musicians' UnionHow to Report Live Performances to PRS for Music8 Dec 2023 — Log into the PRS website · Click on Royalties, then select R...
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Source: aristake.com
Title: live performance royalties
Link: https://aristake.com/live-performance-royalties/Source snippet
Ari's TakeIf You Perform Live, You Could Be Missing Out On Lots of...1 Dec 2020 — If you perform original music, your Performing Rights...
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Source: musicbusinessworldwide.com
Link: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/setlist-reporting-isnt-an-optional-extra-its-a-fundamental-part-of-the-live-music-economy/ -
Source: theguardian.com
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/nov/18/musicians-wrongly-allocated-uk-royaltiesSource snippet
Only 28% of fees paid by UK nightclubs are being correctly distributed to the creators of the music being played. This issue arises becau...
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Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/PRSforMusic/posts/our-ceo-andrea-czapary-martin-reflecting-on-live-royalties-and-the-importance-of/1504353401060344/Source snippet
PRS for MusicOur CEO Andrea Czapary Martin reflecting on Live royalties and the importance of setlist data to ensure songwriters get paid...
Additional References
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Source: musicradar.com
Link: https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/uk-electronic-musicians-arent-getting-the-royalties-they-deserve-and-underground-scenes-are-subsidising-mainstream-producers-according-to-a-new-reportSource snippet
Approximately £11.25 million is generated annually from UK electronic music events, with £8.89 million available for distribution after c...
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Source: llama-group.com
Link: https://www.llama-group.com/news/bridger-confirmed-as-cisac-rme-client-launches-its-expansion-into-global-offline-royalty-collection/Source snippet
Bridger, confirmed as CISAC RME Client, launches its...3 Mar 2026 — Our mission is clear: to ensure authors, composers, and publishers r...
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Source: lindacooganb.medium.com
Link: https://lindacooganb.medium.com/the-royalty-maze-why-so-many-artists-still-dont-understand-how-music-money-works-4d241c24e557Source snippet
Royalty Maze: Why So Many Artists Still Don't Understand...A practical guide to publishing, performance royalties, [cover song licensing]({{ 'cover-songs-d042c1/' | relative_url }})...
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Source: djmag.com
Link: https://djmag.com/longreads/producers-are-losing-millions-royalties-every-year-%E2%80%93-heres-what-you-can-do-about-itSource snippet
Producers are losing millions in royalties every year17 Sept 2019 — A lack of data, information, and will has left electronic music produ...
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Source: reddit.com
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/musicbusiness/comments/1d66ogc/submit_your_setlists_from_live_shows_to_get/Source snippet
The songs don't need to be recorded or released yet and it pays roughly $1-$2+ per original song...Read more...
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Source: artists.spotify.com
Title: want to avoid lost royalties follow these important tips from the mmf
Link: https://artists.spotify.com/en/blog/want-to-avoid-lost-royalties-follow-these-important-tips-from-the-mmfSource snippet
Follow These Important Tips...21 Mar 2022 — Understanding the complexities of song registration, rights management, and royalty collecti...
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Source: recordoftheday.com
Title: claimy raises 15m to unlock the music industrys [missing royalties]({{ ‘missing-royalties/’ | relative_url }})
Link: https://www.recordoftheday.com/on-the-move/news-press/claimy-raises-15m-to-unlock-the-music-industrys-missing-royaltiesSource snippet
Claimy raises €1.5 m to unlock the music industry's missing...6 Oct 2025 — AI-powered platform will help solve the “black box issue”, de...
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Source: digitalmusicnews.com
Title: global music publishing collections decline
Link: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/10/28/global-music-publishing-collections-decline/Source snippet
Global Music Publishing Collections Projected to Tank 35...28 Oct 2020 — CISAC has predicted that global music publishing collections wi...
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Source: reddit.com
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/musicindustry/comments/1oyi71f/are_you_collecting_all_the_royalties_youre_owed/Source snippet
itting your live setlists when you perform? Are you collecting...
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Source: cisac.org
Title: cisac global collections report 2025
Link: https://www.cisac.org/Newsroom/news-releases/cisac-global-collections-report-2025Source snippet
5 Nov 2025 — CISAC Global Collections Report 2025; Royalties collected for creators worldwide rose to a record €13.97 billion in 2024, a...
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