I feel that some directors avoid, or lighten, their criticism of major labels and publishers, at the expense of their independent and DIY members, because representatives of the majors sit on the boards of these organizations. They have deep pockets for annual gifts and dues, and a non-profit can’t afford to see those dwindle.

In my presentation on the state of unclaimed royalties and music licenses at the Music Industry Research Association’s first inaugural MIRA Conference earlier this month, I presented several arguments of how black box royalties manifest. This included cash advances paid to music companies by digital service providers that go unattributed to their artists at the end of the contract term. What I didn’t include are the distribution of unattributed royalties to major publishers, by market share, from music rights organizations.

Major labels and publishers cannibalize most distributions of black box royalties in an unfair and imbalanced manner. It is my belief (and feel free to correct me if I am wrong) that the majors have the resources and manpower to do a better job of registering their works and claiming their earnings. It is my opinion, based on my work through TuneRegistry — a music and rights metadata management platform for the independent music community — that the independent sector have the most difficult time in this respect; especially the DIY segment, which is all but blacklisted from being represented in these secret imbalanced conversations and distributions.

But who should be the outspoken opponents of these types of distributions? The advocacy groups? When “watch dogs” should be shining the light in every dark corner of the royalty vault, some of these groups tend to prefer dim conversations regarding black box royalties and how those funds are cannibalized by their major members.