Mid-Year Catalog Health Check: How to recover and optimize royalty streams from dormant or underperforming catalog assets?

As we reach the midpoint of 2025, conducting a thorough catalog health check becomes increasingly vital for rights holders seeking to maximize their revenue potential. Our experience working with labels, publishers, and independent artists has consistently shown that proactive royalty management can uncover significant untapped value.

Consider these key areas when assessing your catalog's performance:

Historical Income Patterns and Anomalies

Review your royalty statements for any declines, gaps, or inconsistencies that don’t match your catalog’s actual usage. These often signal issues like:

• Metadata errors

• Missed or incomplete registrations

• Reporting discrepancies across platforms

Investigate Black Box Royalties

Unmatched or unclaimed royalties, commonly referred to as “black box” income, can quietly accumulate over time.

• Check statements for “pending,” “unallocated,” or “unclaimed” earnings

• Work with a partner who can actively track and claim on your behalf across DSPs and collection societies worldwide

Territory-by-Territory Collection Status

Are you collecting in every country where your music is used? Royalty collection varies greatly by territory. To ensure full global coverage:

• Confirm representation in all performing regions

• Evaluate whether your sub-publishing network is actively managing registrations and claims

Resurface Catalog Tracks with Fresh Context

A track with low activity isn’t necessarily obsolete—it may just need new positioning. Consider:

• Adding the track to relevant mood or theme-based playlists

• Pitching it for sync opportunities in film, TV, or user-generated content

• Promoting it around anniversaries, seasonal campaigns, or cultural events

Fix Metadata Across the Board

Metadata is the foundation of proper royalty flow. Even small errors can lead to significant losses. Revisit your catalog and ask:

• Are composer and publisher shares accurately reflected?

• Are all collaborators listed and registered with relevant societies?

• Are alternate versions, titles, and remixes properly linked in all databases?

Reclaim Missed Income with Royalty Reprocessing

If you’ve identified discrepancies or missed payments in historical data, there may be an opportunity to correct and recover income.

• Some platforms and societies allow for retroactive claims, but only within limited timeframes

• A partner equipped with the right tools and relationships can submit corrections efficiently

Time is critical; delays in identifying issues reduce the chances of recovery.

Evaluate Sub-Publishing Relationships

A mid-year review is a smart time to assess whether your sub-publishing and collection partners are delivering real value. Are they collecting in proportion to your catalog’s known performance? If not, it may be time to reassess.

Optimize for Sync Licensing

Your older catalog still has potential. Positioning these tracks for sync—especially those that haven’t been pitched before—can unlock new licensing revenue. Many timeless recordings are just waiting for the right opportunity and exposure.

Final Thought

Your catalog is an asset, but only if it's working for you. Dormant or underperforming tracks aren’t dead ends; they’re opportunities waiting to be unlocked. And with the right visibility, metadata hygiene, and royalty strategy, even forgotten tracks can generate fresh income.

At Royalty Solutions, we combine music industry expertise with advanced technology and a global reach to help rights holders uncover revenue, close gaps, and future-proof their catalogs. Our focus is not only on recovering what has been missed but also on building efficient and scalable systems that prevent future loss.

If you haven’t reviewed your catalog yet this year, now is the time.

Let’s discuss how we can help improve your catalog’s health, recover lost revenue, and create a stronger royalty future.
Request a quote today!