Your music doesn't stop at the border - but most royalty collection does. We ensure your performance, mechanical, and neighboring rights income is collected in every territory where your music is being used, through a global network of sub-publishers and collecting societies.
When your music streams in Germany, plays on UK radio, or gets licensed for a Brazilian commercial - royalties are generated in those territories. But those royalties don't automatically find their way back to you. Without the right administrative infrastructure in place, international income simply goes uncollected.
We build that infrastructure for you. Through our international affiliate network and sub-publishing relationships, we register your works with collecting societies around the world, monitor usage across foreign territories, and ensure every royalty generated internationally is tracked and distributed back to you.
Most independent creators have no visibility into what they're owed internationally - and no system to collect it. That changes when you work with DRD.
Start Collecting GloballyWe collect through affiliate relationships with collecting societies across every major music market worldwide.
Performance, mechanical, and neighboring rights - all three streams collected across all active territories.
Our goal is to identify and recover every international royalty you're owed - territory by territory, source by source.
Every time your song is broadcast, streamed, or performed publicly in a foreign country, performance royalties are generated and held by that country's collecting society. We collect your writer and publisher share from each territory through our PRO affiliate network.
When your compositions are streamed or downloaded in international markets, mechanical royalties are generated under each territory's copyright law. We register your works with foreign mechanical rights organizations and collect these royalties on your behalf.
Unlike in the US, most countries pay neighboring rights - performance royalties for master recordings - to featured artists and sound recording rights holders when music is broadcast or performed publicly. If your recordings are played internationally, you may be owed significant uncollected neighboring rights income.
When your music is licensed for use in foreign films, television productions, advertising, or online content, synchronization fees and backend performance royalties are generated. We administer international sync licensing and ensure all associated income flows back to you.
Radio airplay, TV broadcast, and cable usage in international markets generates both performance and neighboring rights royalties. Countries like the UK, Germany, France, and Japan have some of the highest broadcast royalty rates in the world - income that most independent artists never collect.
Physical sales and permanent downloads of your music in foreign territories trigger mechanical royalty obligations under local copyright law. We track foreign physical and download activity and collect the associated mechanicals through our international network.
We maintain active collection relationships across all major music markets. Here are the key territories covered through our sub-publisher and affiliate network.
International royalty collection works differently from domestic collection. Here's what makes it complex - and how we handle it on your behalf.
Each country has its own collecting society, its own registration process, and its own royalty calculation rules. Your works must be registered in each territory where collection is intended. We manage this registration process across our entire affiliate network so you don't have to navigate dozens of different systems and languages.
A sub-publisher is a local entity in a foreign territory that administers your rights and collects royalties from that country's collecting societies on your behalf. We maintain sub-publishing relationships in key territories around the world, acting as your primary point of contact and ensuring your income flows through a trusted, vetted network.
Many collecting societies have reciprocal agreements with each other - meaning if you're registered with ASCAP or BMI in the US, they may theoretically collect on your behalf in certain territories through these agreements. However, these reciprocal arrangements frequently have gaps, delays, and registration requirements that leave significant income uncollected. Active sub-publishing fills those gaps.
International royalties from dozens of territories flow into a single consolidated account under DRD's administration. We reconcile all incoming international statements, convert currencies, deduct applicable fees, and distribute your international income to you on schedule - with a detailed breakdown by territory, royalty type, and period.
We start by reviewing your existing registrations - US and international - and identifying every territory where your music is being used but where collection infrastructure isn't in place. For clients with streaming data or DSP analytics, we can map active usage territories directly to identify where the income is being generated and left behind.
We register your works with collecting societies in every priority territory, assign sub-publishers where direct registration is required, and ensure all metadata - ISWC codes, songwriter splits, IPI numbers, and publisher information - is accurate and complete for each territory's requirements.
For featured artists and sound recording rights holders, we file neighboring rights claims with the relevant collection societies in each territory where recordings are being broadcast or publicly performed. This is one of the most commonly overlooked and most lucrative income streams for independent artists with international airplay.
Once registered, we monitor royalty collection across all active territories on an ongoing basis. We track payment cycles from each society, reconcile statements against expected income, and pursue underpayments or missing payments through each society's correction and dispute process.
All international royalties are consolidated, reconciled, and distributed to you on schedule with a detailed international royalty report - showing income by territory, royalty type, collecting society, and time period. You always have full visibility into where your global income is coming from.
International royalty income is consistently the most overlooked and most underutilized income stream for independent creators. Here's why - and why working with DRD changes that entirely.
Most independent creators only register with a US PRO. Foreign collecting societies hold royalties indefinitely until a valid claim or registration is submitted - and many eventually redistribute those funds to other rights holders.
Even where reciprocal agreements exist between collecting societies, specific work types, territories, and usage categories are frequently excluded - leaving significant income sitting in foreign societies with no mechanism for collection.
The US does not pay neighboring rights for over-the-air broadcast - so most US artists are unaware this income stream exists. Artists with international airplay may be owed years of accumulated neighboring rights income from European, UK, and other markets.
Collecting internationally requires active relationships with dozens of collecting societies, in multiple languages, under different legal frameworks. Without a specialized administrator, most independent creators simply have no way to access this income.
Foreign collecting societies hold undistributed royalties for a limited period - typically 3 to 5 years - before redistributing them to other registered rights holders by market share. Every year without a registered claim is a year of income permanently lost.
Without territory-level streaming and broadcast monitoring, most creators simply don't know their music is being used internationally. What you can't see, you can't collect - which is why active monitoring is a critical part of international administration.
Neighboring rights are one of the most significant and most consistently uncollected royalty streams for US artists with international audiences. Here's what they are and who qualifies.
Unlike in the United States - where terrestrial radio does not pay performance royalties to recording artists - most countries around the world pay neighboring rights to featured artists and master rights holders whenever their recordings are broadcast or publicly performed.
This means that every time your record plays on UK radio, German TV, or a French streaming platform, a neighboring rights royalty is generated and held by that country's collecting society - waiting for a registered claim.
For artists with international airplay and streaming audiences, uncollected neighboring rights can represent thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in annual income. We file and administer these claims as part of our international administration services.
Lead vocalists and featured performers on sound recordings are entitled to neighboring rights in most international markets. If your name is credited as a featured artist on a recording being played internationally, you have uncollected income.
Non-featured performers who contributed to a recording may also be entitled to a share of neighboring rights in certain territories - particularly in Europe - through equitable remuneration schemes.
Labels and independent artists who own their master recordings are eligible to collect the label's share of neighboring rights from international broadcasts - a significant income stream separate from the artist's performer share.
The UK (PPL), Germany (GVL), France (ADAMI/SCPP), Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia (PPCA), Canada (Re:Sound), and Japan (RIAJ) are among the highest-value neighboring rights markets for international artists.
Partially - your US PRO has reciprocal agreements with many foreign societies that may collect certain performance royalties on your behalf. However, these agreements frequently have gaps, exclusions, and registration requirements that leave significant income uncollected. They also do not cover mechanical royalties, neighboring rights, or territories where reciprocal arrangements don't exist. Active international administration through DRD fills every gap your PRO leaves.
Register today and we'll audit your international collection, file your claims, and start recovering the global royalties that have been accumulating without you.