Common Song Registration Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Registering your songs correctly is essential for ensuring you receive all the royalties you’re entitled to and protecting your work. However, many artists, songwriters, and producers make mistakes that can delay or even block royalty payments.

In this guide, we’ll break down the most common mistakes when registering songs and provide practical solutions to avoid them—including common errors we’ve seen when registering works on our platform.

General Mistakes When Registering Songs

1. Not Including the IPI Number for Songwriters and Publishers

Your IPI (Interested Party Information) number is crucial for ensuring you get paid. If you don’t include yours—or your co-writers’—when registering a song, collection societies won’t be able to identify you as a rights holder, which means you won’t get your royalties.

2. Incorrectly Listing Co-Writers and Splits

One of the biggest mistakes in song registration is not properly dividing ownership percentages among all contributors. If the splits don’t add up to exactly 100%, payment conflicts will arise.

3. Not Clearing Samples or Interpolations

Using someone else’s music—whether sampling, interpolating, or re-recording a melody—requires written permission from the rights holders. Without it, you risk copyright infringement claims, lawsuits, and losing all earnings from your song.

4. Failing to Register Alternative Titles or Versions

Not registering remixes, live versions, or covers separately—or failing to list alternative titles—makes it difficult for collection societies to track and match payments correctly.

5. Not Registering the ISRC and Other Metadata

Your ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is critical for tracking plays and ensuring royalty payments. Missing metadata, like performer names and recording details, can result in lost revenue.

Common Mistakes When Registering Songs on ONE Publishing

If you’re managing your registrations through ONE Publishing, avoid these platform-specific mistakes to ensure your songs are properly registered:

1. Uploading Duplicate Registrations for the Same Song

Mistake: Submitting the same song multiple times instead of updating an existing version with new ISRCs.

Solution: Use the “microphone” feature to add additional ISRCs without duplicating the registration.

2. Registering Different Versions Under One Entry

Mistake: Combining multiple versions of a song—like “I Love You” and “I Love You Remix”—under a single registration, even when they have different authors.

Solution: Register each version separately to prevent conflicts in royalty distribution.

3. Using an Artistic Name Instead of the Legal Name Linked to the IPI

Mistake: Registering a song with a stage name instead of the legal name associated with your IPI.

Solution: Always use the exact legal name registered with your collection society to avoid payment discrepancies.

4. Incorrectly Allocating Songwriter Shares

Mistake: Entering incorrect split percentages, causing the total not to equal 100%—which will trigger an error in the system.

Solution: Double-check your splits before submitting. Our platform automatically detects errors when the percentages don’t add up to 100%.

5. Selecting “Control” for Artists Who Don’t Own the Account

Mistake: Marking the “control” option for artists who do not actually own the account registering the work.

Solution: Only select “control” if you genuinely own the rights to the song. If registering a collaboration, ensure each creator has the correct level of control over their share of the work.

 

Registering your songs properly is more than just a formality—it’s your guarantee to get paid what you deserve. Avoid these common mistakes, keep your registrations clean, and ensure your music generates royalties without delays.

Want to learn more about how to update your catalog? Check out this video we made for you!