Unstarving Musician | Four royalty streams you're probably not collecting

What if thousands of dollars in royalties from your music are sitting unclaimed right now?

Public Speaker, DJ Amani Roberts at DJ sound console on dark lit background | Episode artwork for The Unstarving Musician

Amani Roberts, music business educator and USA Today bestselling author, has seen independent artists recover royalties going back four years—money they didn't know existed. The problem isn't a lack of talent or streaming numbers. It's missing registrations with collection organizations that most musicians never hear about.

Three Insights from Our Conversation

The Four Royalty Streams Most Artists Overlook: Beyond PRO registration for public performance royalties, most independent musicians fail to register with SoundExchange (digital performance on streaming platforms), publishing royalty services like Songtrust, and the Mechanical Licensing Collective. Unclaimed royalties are eventually redistributed to major labels based on market share—that's your money going to them instead of you.
Private Events Pay 5-10x More Than Bar Gigs: The corporate and private event market generates significantly higher revenue than traditional venues, but requires different networking. Amani details joining industry associations such as Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Professional Conference Management Association (PCMA), and Society for Incentive Travel Executives (SITE)—where volunteering at local chapters creates exposure to national-level event planners and entertainment managers.
Email Lists Beat Social Media for Monetization: Social media is rented space. Email lists are owned assets. Amani shows how meaningful revenue can start with as few as 50 subscribers, using lead magnets like acoustic versions of popular songs to drive signups and tools like MiniChat to automate social media-to-email conversions. A sustainable independent music career should target 30-35% of revenue from direct-to-fan platforms.

🎧 Listen to Episode 339

🔗 Show notes for this episode

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The companion edition of Liner Notes Insider will include:

Royalty collection organization checklist (PRO, SoundExchange, Songtrust, MLC)
Corporate event association strategy and pricing framework
Email list building system with lead magnet examples
Revenue distribution model for sustainable music careers

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P.S. - Amani's book "The Quiet Storm" started as his Berklee College thesis project. He transformed academic research into a USA Today bestseller—then explains in our conversation why most musicians should view book publishing not as a revenue stream itself, but as paid marketing that increases speaking fees and creates performance opportunities at conferences and book events. The book becomes the credibility multiplier for everything else you offer.

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