the 5 Accounts Every Artist Needs Before Releasing

Stop uploading first and figuring out business later. That is the mistake Victor Ukor calls "financially reckless" in his home-office Reel this month, and it's why so many sync checks never arrive.

Your pre-release checklist:

1. PRO — ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC in the US. This is how you get backend performance royalties when your song airs.

2. SoundExchange — collects digital performance royalties for the master recording.

3. Distributor — DistroKid, CD Baby, TuneCore. Opt in to their sync programs.

4. MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) — US streaming mechanicals.

5. YouTube Content ID — via HAAWK, Identifyy, or your distributor.

Joya Owens frames it the same way in her "5 Things You Must Do to Get Paid" — if your publishing entity name does not match your PRO exactly, MLC will reject the claim and the money sits in limbo.

Set these up once, and every placement from Week 6 onward actually pays you.