Landry Legal

Upcoming payment dates for BMI. Here’s what many writers and producers don’t realize: PRO royalties are split into two separate shares—the writer’s share and the publisher’s share. Each half gets paid to a different account.

If you’re only signed up as a writer and not also registered as a publisher, you are typically only receiving half of the money your songs earn. The publisher’s share does not automatically get paid to you.

Instead, those unpaid royalties often end up in what’s known as the “black box.”

The black box is a pool of unclaimed or unmatched royalties that PROs and other organizations hold when they cannot properly identify or pay the right publisher. After a certain period, those funds may be redistributed to other rights holders based on market share—meaning you can permanently lose money that was generated by your own songs.

If your catalog isn’t fully registered with both your writer and publisher accounts, you could be leaving real money behind.

DM me for help with registration so you can collect ALL of your royalties.

Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group has been dismissed.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, “the allegedly defamatory statements in ‘Not Like Us’ are nonactionable opinion.”

In other words, the court found that song lyrics, even if harsh, can’t form the basis of a defamation claim when they’re viewed as artistic expression or opinion, not fact.

This ruling underscores how difficult it is for public figures to succeed in defamation cases tied to creative works.

👀 I mean we all assume it has been happening (and always has been to some extent) but it is surprising someone finally decided to investigate the new payola.