Mogul says it has tracked $1.5B in music royalties, raised $5M in funding
Source: TechCrunch
Overview
Music rights and royalties are a complex world with multiple royalty types. Artists must keep their data updated across platforms to avoid missing earnings, a task that can be both time‑consuming and distracting from creative work.
Mogul, a platform founded by former SoundCloud head of creators Jeff Ponchick and former SoundCloud VP of engineering Joey Mason, announced that it has helped artists track $1.5 billion in lost royalties since its launch last year.
Funding
- $5 million raised in a new round led by the Yamaha Music Innovations Fund, with participation from the Urban Innovation Fund, Mindset Ventures, and Fairway Capital Partners.
- Existing investors Amplify LA and Wonder Ventures also participated.
- Total funding to date exceeds $6.3 million.
The company, currently staffed by six people, plans to expand its team with the new capital.
Product & Features
Data Pipeline
Andrew Kahn, managing partner at Yamaha Music Innovations Fund, highlighted Mogul’s “most comprehensive, first‑party data pipeline” for residual‑income earners, emphasizing accuracy and speed compared with other solutions that have limited connectivity to payers.
Catalog Management
- Early version offered a list of recommendations for better cataloguing.
- Current version provides actionable insights, improved list formats, and cross‑platform catalog corrections.
Example Use Case
“SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties when your music is played on Sirius XM. If your SoundExchange account is linked, Mogul can flag songs distributed via DistroKid to Spotify that are missing from your SoundExchange account,” said Ponchick.
The platform can prompt users for missing information and complete registrations automatically. A bulk registration tool enables mass data uploads. Users have reported an average 20 % increase in royalty revenue after adopting Mogul.
Catalog Valuation
Mogul now offers a valuation tool that estimates an artist’s catalog value across recording and publishing, breaking down valuations by individual tracks and revenue sources such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Tier Changes
The free tier was discontinued because it was unsustainable for delivering automation tools, and many early‑stage musicians using it derived limited benefit. The focus has shifted to paid tiers that provide greater value to artists.
AI‑Generated Music
Mogul is exploring how to handle royalties for AI‑generated music. While performing rights organizations allow registration of partially AI‑created works, fully AI‑generated tracks may encounter scrutiny on certain platforms.
Kahn noted challenges such as:
- High volume of releases
- Ambiguous ownership
- Attribution disputes
“The current infrastructure was built for a human creator ecosystem. High volume, probabilistic authorship could make tracking, allocating, and defending claims to IP and royalties more difficult,” he said.
Moglet is monitoring regulatory developments but believes it is well‑positioned to track royalties for any type of track.
Competition & Industry Landscape
Mogul competes with platforms such as Notes.fm and Claimity.
In 2024, the U.S. performing rights organization AllTrack launched a new division that allows creators to collect performance and mechanical royalties from a single source, signaling broader structural changes in the industry.