Like I mean MLC, Soundexchange, ASCAP, Finally bring DistroKid and RouteNote data together
Anyone who is an independent musician and label operator, knows the problem: Your own data is scattered across dozens of different platforms. For me it's MLC, ASCAP and SoundExchange, plus my distributors DistroKid and RouteNote – each platform with its own login, own data format, own logic. And woe betide you, you have over 400 Tracks in the catalog like me. You quickly lose track of things, where something is missing, what is reported twice or where royalties are simply left behind, because a registration is missing somewhere in the system.
I've been using Mogul for exactly this problem for some time now (usemogul.com).
What Mogul actually does
Mogul is, at its core, a publishing admin tool. The platform connects to the sources, which you specify yourself – for me it is MLC, ASCAP, SoundExchange, DistroKid and RouteNote - and pulls the catalog data and billing from there. The goal: A central location, where you can see, which songs are registered where, where there are gaps and where royalties may slip through, because a registration is missing or incorrect.
Mogul advertises it himself, that members on average around 20 Collect percent more in royalties, simply because claims that were previously left unfinished are finally being clearly reported. At first it sounds like a marketing number, but the basic idea is right: If you 400+ tracks and you haven't meticulously maintained them all by hand at each individual PRO and each distributor, the probability is high, that money is left somewhere.
How things are going for me specifically
The workflow is simple, but important: You connect your own accounts - with ASCAP, for example, by exporting the catalog- und Earnings-Files, with other sources such as SoundExchange more directly via API connection. Mogul then compares this and displays, where there are discrepancies: Songs, which were released by DistroKid, but are not registered with the MLC. Songs, which are missing from ASCAP. recordings, for which no digital royalties from web radio and satellite radio are incurred at SoundExchange, even though they have been running for a long time. Or cases, where the splits are not stored cleanly.
And then it goes through song by song. That's actually the part, which takes the most patience – with a catalog my size, this is not a weekend project, but runs over weeks and months. But that's exactly the point: Mogul doesn't just automatically blindly take over everything, but the registrations are controlled, Track by track, directly into the systems, which you already use. No data export chaos, no manual copy-pasting between five different portals.
Why this is important to me
I've had enough trouble with distributors in the past - account suspensions, Streaming-Flags, the whole program. Anyone who runs their own label as an independent artist, can't rely on it, that some middleman is already paying attention, that the royalties arrive correctly. You have to know for yourself, what happens in your own catalog data, and you have to have your own registrations under control - especially with PROs and recycling centers like ASCAP, the MLC or SoundExchange, where incomplete or incorrect entries quickly lead to this, that money just doesn't end up anywhere.
For me, a tool like Mogul is therefore not a nice-to-have, but basic equipment for your own label business. It doesn't replace your own care - in the end, as CEO of FLEX BARKER MUSIC RECORDS, I still have to understand myself, what happens in my catalog – but it makes the dirty work bearable, merging systems, who don't naturally want to talk to each other.
Anyone who manages a larger catalog across several distributors and PROs and is tired of it, to maintain each individual registration manually, should take a look at the whole thing. Especially if you work with several hundred tracks like I do, The central overview quickly pays for itself – in the truest sense of the word.