Monetunes is tackling the €2 Billion publishing royalty problem

Every year, an estimated €2 billion in music publishing royalties goes unclaimed. Monetunes, a publishing administration platform founded by Antonio Di Puorto, is built to close that gap for independent artists and labels.

Most artists using a distributor assume their royalties are handled. They are not. A distributor collects master royalties, the income generated from the recording itself. Publishing royalties, which flow from the underlying composition, require a separate administrator to collect across performing rights organisations, mechanical licensing bodies, and sync agencies in every territory where that music is used.

Monetunes handles that second stream. The platform registers catalogues with collection societies across more than 100 countries and aggregates payments across five royalty types: mechanical, performance, sync, print, and neighbouring rights. For most independent artists, several of these go completely uncollected. Not because there is no money, but because no one is registered to receive it.

No upfront fees, catalog import in clicks

The platform runs on a commission model: no subscription fee, no upfront cost. Artists import their catalogue through a streamlined onboarding process, and Monetunes takes a percentage of royalties collected. For record labels, a white-label version of the technology is also available.

The platform’s scale is reflected in its usage numbers. In the 12 months to mid-2026, artists managed through Monetunes accumulated more than 5 billion streams across registered catalogues.

The black box problem

Di Puorto uses the term “black box” to describe the pool of publishing royalties that collection societies hold when the rights holder cannot be identified or located. That pool sits at an estimated €2 billion annually across global markets, a figure that underlines how widespread the collection gap actually is.

The root causes are largely procedural. Many artists register with a PRO such as ASCAP or BMI in the United States but do not register compositions with mechanical licensing bodies or in international territories where their music is being streamed and performed. Monetunes works alongside existing PRO memberships rather than replacing them, covering the territorial and rights-type gaps that artists routinely miss.

DJ setlist royalties

For DJs performing at licensed festivals and venues, there is a specific royalty category that rarely gets discussed. When a DJ performs at a licensed event, the organiser pays a licensing fee, up to 4% of gross ticket sales at festivals, to the relevant collecting body, which then distributes payments to the rights holders of the tracks played. Receiving that income requires the underlying compositions to be registered correctly.

Monetunes covers these registrations as standard. More information is at monetunes.com.