# TrackForge > We find out what's actually registered, fix what's broken, and prove it's paying. The registration-truth layer for music rights. *Published by [TrackForge](https://trackforge.studio)* --- ## We find out what's actually registered, fix what's broken, and prove it's paying The registration-truth layer for music rights. ### Services - **TrackForge Workspace** — Keep your works in one place and see where each society stands. Free during the beta: [create a free workspace](/workspace) - **MCP server for AI assistants** — Free server that checks a catalogue against The MLC's data, looks up a song's writers and publishers, and validates CWR files. Add `https://api.trackforge.studio/api/v1/mcp` to Claude, ChatGPT or any AI assistant that takes a remote MCP server: [how to add it](/mcp#add) - **CWR Workbench** — Free online tool to create, check and read Common Works Registration 2.1 files and understand society ACK responses: [open the Workbench](/cwr-tool/workbench) - **ISRC Lookup** — Free tool that cross-references ISRCs across Spotify, MusicBrainz and The MLC to find metadata conflicts, registration gaps and trapped mechanical royalties: [look up an ISRC](/isrc-lookup) --- ## Essays and Research ### Why TrackForge Exists Music catalogues are one of the fastest-growing alternative asset classes in the world. Billions flow into acquisitions every year. Every one of these transactions shares the same structural weakness: there is no standardised way to verify what is being bought. [Read the full essay](/why) ### The Black Box IT upgrades and billions redirected. How the music industry's back-office infrastructure silently reshapes who gets paid — and how much goes missing in transit. [Read the full briefing](/black-box) ### The Unclaimed Economy 4.25 million musical works hold unclaimed US mechanical royalties at The MLC — cross-referenced against 12 data sources. 67.5% are registered for performance rights at ASCAP; 73% stream on Spotify. [Read the full research note](/research/unclaimed-economy) ### How ISRC Registration Gaps Cost Labels Money 94.7% of a label catalog matched on Spotify. Only 50% had a registered mechanical work at the MLC. That 45-point gap — across 1,581 ISRCs — is where $569.9M in royalties disappear. [Read the full analysis](/research/isrc-registration-gaps) ### Where the Money Goes: A Map of Royalty Leakage Music royalties disappear at 12 distinct stages between creation and collection. 160+ failure modes mapped across 15 data sources. The first systematic taxonomy of where the money goes — and why it never arrives. [Read the full essay](/research/royalty-leakage-map) ### Rowntree v PRS: The £3 Line The Court of Appeal has explained why black box royalties cannot be litigated back — and revealed the £3 threshold below which no one manually investigates an unmatched royalty. What the twenty-one pages almost nobody read actually say. [Read the full research note](/research/rowntree-v-prs) ### Irene Cara's $333,353 was not at her record label Irene Cara's estate has recovered $333,353 in royalties she never collected. About $246,000 was held by her music publisher and $78,000 by a UK collecting society. Roughly $8,000 was at a label. Why having a publisher does not mean your songs are registered, and how to check. [Read the full article](/research/irene-cara-uncollected-royalties) ### Doubt in the rate, fact in the forecast Valuations argue over the discount rate and take the income base on trust. Why a registration gap belongs in the forecast, and what buyers should check first. [Read the full analysis](/research/doubt-in-the-rate-fact-in-the-forecast) ### $198 billion, 57%, and the number nobody models Goldman Sachs forecasts music to $198.1 billion by 2035 and stops at the society's door. The step it leaves out has a published size and, from 2027, a clock. [Read the full analysis](/research/music-in-the-air-number-nobody-models) --- ## Contact - Email: [hello@trackforge.studio](mailto:hello@trackforge.studio) --- Source: [https://trackforge.studio/](https://trackforge.studio/)