Find the leak.
Fund the catalog.
Music royalties pass through a chain of matching steps: distributor, MLC, PRO, SoundExchange, foreign societies, Content ID. When a step fails on a title, an ISRC or a split, the money sits unmatched or never gets generated. We read your statements, show you the dollar figure, and either help you fix it or make you a cash offer for the catalog.
Statements are parsed in your browser and never uploaded. The audit app is a working prototype; try it with the labeled synthetic sample catalog.
The black box is real, and it refills every month.
Each step in the royalty chain matches on metadata. When a match fails, the money waits, gets paid out to others by market share, or is never generated at all. These are published figures, not ours.
in historical unmatched ("black box") streaming royalties received by the MLC at launch. Much has since been matched; every new month adds to the tail.
The MLC / BillboardThe MLC begins market-share distributions of unmatched royalties, starting with 2021 usage. Unclaimed money from that period goes to whoever is already matched.
The MLC · MBWmedian clearing multiple of trailing royalties for small catalogs on the largest retail royalty marketplace, across about 2,450 priced deals. Sellers also paid around 15% commission historically.
AltStreet · Royalty ExchangeData on leakage for owners earning $15k-$250k a year is thin; no public study measures it. Our 12% base is an assumption that a 20-catalog concierge test is designed to check. Estimates of total unclaimed royalties ($250M to $2.5B) are disputed (Interspace).
Two linked businesses. One honest number.
RoyaltyLeak: the audit
A free audit that reads your statements in the browser and reports dollars by leak type and income type: publishing, masters and neighboring rights, with identified and eligible shown separately. A flat-fee Fix package files the registrations through a publishing administrator. We charge 25% only on retroactive claims, never on your ongoing income.
How the audit works →Black Box Capital: the buyer
We buy small catalogs ($75k and up), mostly from estates and unsold marketplace listings, at about 6x as-is trailing royalties, all cash, closing in about 10 business days with no auction commission. If you used our audit, we also pay an earnout of 30% of the value of the uplift we realize.
See the deal math →Four steps from statement to decision.
Drop in statements
CSV exports from your distributor, PRO, MLC or administrator, SoundExchange and YouTube. Smart column mapping recognizes the common layouts. Nothing leaves your browser.
Normalize and match
Titles and ISRCs are normalized, title variants are merged, and each recording is linked to its work across sources.
Flag and price leaks
Six leak rules with an eligibility screen. Each leak gets a dollar estimate, a confidence level and a source-specific collection lag.
Choose a path
Fix it yourself, pay a flat fee for us to file it, or take a cash offer. All three are priced side by side with the math shown.
How much might your catalog be leaking?
A 30-second screen, not an audit. Tell us what you already collect, and we will show a range based on the plan's assumptions. The real number comes from your statements.
Leak screen
Illustrative estimateHow this is computed: the maximum leak share for each income stream is an assumption (mechanicals 4%, domestic PRO 3%, SoundExchange 3%, foreign up to 5% at a 60% ex-US share and scaled linearly, Content ID 2%, metadata and title splits 1.5%). Anything you already collect is removed. With a typical setup this lands near the plan's 12% base eligible leak. The range is ±40%. It is a screen, not a promise; we never say "you're owed $X" before an audit.
Pay once. Keep what you find.
Leak audit
Dollars by leak type and income type, decay curve, 10-year projection. Runs in your browser.
Run itFix package
Registration batch filed through a publishing administrator. Plus 25% of retroactive claims only. No fee on ongoing income.
See the mathCash offer
All cash, about 10 business days, no auction commission. Minimum deal $75k. Earnout on realized uplift for audit users.
Compare to an auctionAttorneys and executors: a catalog valuation and leak report for estate, probate or divorce costs $2,000 (range $1,500-3,000). It is not a certified appraisal; for court use a credentialed appraiser signs. Details.
Straight answers.
Is this a real company with clients?
Not yet. Black Box Capital is a concept-stage venture. There are no customers, administrators, investors or partners. The audit app is a working prototype that runs on your files or on a labeled synthetic catalog, and every financial figure on this site is a projection with its assumptions stated.
Do my statements get uploaded anywhere?
No. The free audit parses CSV files in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing is sent to a server. If you later engage us, you sign an opt-in data agreement and a letter of direction, and monitoring runs on your administrator's statement feed.
Why not just register everything myself?
You can, and some owners should. The MLC, SoundExchange and distributor Content ID add-ons are free or cheap. The black box persists because many owners don't get around to it. Our Fix fee is flat so the decision is easy to make either way, and the free report shows you the dollars by leak type.
Why is the per-song fix list not in the free report?
The free report shows you what is leaking and roughly how much. The work-by-work filing list comes with the Fix package. The prototype lets you preview both views so you can see exactly what the engaged report contains.
What does "eligible" mean?
A leak that passes a screen: you control the composition share, splits are documented, and for Content ID you hold exclusive rights in every territory claimed. Leased beats, uncleared samples and previously licensed tracks are flagged as identified but not eligible. We always report both numbers.
How long until money arrives?
It depends on the source. Planning lags: the MLC about 4-6 months, SoundExchange about 6-9 months, foreign and neighboring-rights societies 12-24 months. These are disclosed before you sign.
If I use the audit, will you lowball me on a purchase?
No. Most of our purchases come from estates and marketplace listings where the seller never sees our audit. If you have seen it, we price as-is and add an earnout of 30% of the value of the uplift we actually realize, paid at month 18. You see the gap, and you share in it.
Who owns RoyaltyLeak?
The audit business would trade as RoyaltyLeak and be affiliated with Black Box Capital. The affiliation is disclosed in every engagement letter.
Lead with the dollar figure.
Load your statements, or the 120-song synthetic sample, and see the leak waterfall, decay curve and three priced paths in under a minute.