https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research Forensic editorial pieces from Music Intel on royalty mechanics, streaming integrity, and catalogue economics. Three desks: Forensic, Method, Market. en-GB Copyright 2026 Music Intel Ltd Mon, 11 May 2026 21:40:51 GMT Music Intel corporate site (Astro) https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/catalogue-dd-audit-finds M&A diligence looks at what a catalogue has earned. It almost never looks at what it should have earned. A composite case showing the gap between acquisition model and royalty reality. Forensic Black Box https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/catalogue-dd-audit-finds https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/neighbouring-rights-underclaimed UK artists performing on recordings played in Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia are owed money from three of the highest-paying neighbouring rights societies in the world. Most are not claiming it. Market Black Box https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/neighbouring-rights-underclaimed https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/cwr-breaking-royalties-since-1999 A significant percentage of CWR transactions contain errors that cause royalties to fail silently. Accepted by societies but matched to the wrong work, the wrong writer, or no work at all. Method Black Box https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/cwr-breaking-royalties-since-1999 https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/561m-global-extrapolation Across mechanical, performance, and sync rights. Across 80+ collecting societies. Across four decades of catalogue. The realistic scale of the global black box. Market Black Box https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/561m-global-extrapolation https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/touring-follows-streaming-geography In a significant number of markets, streaming data signals meaningful live demand that booking agents are not acting on. The gap is measurable. Market Musicata Pro https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/touring-follows-streaming-geography https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/eastern-european-streaming-fraud Streaming fraud is not random. It clusters geographically and operationally. A composite case showing how a coordinated playlist network generates high play counts with zero legitimate engagement. Forensic Musicata Pro https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/eastern-european-streaming-fraud https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/2562-breakouts-acted-on The window between a genuine organic breakout and a commercial response is shrinking. Most artists with momentum signatures have no infrastructure to capitalise on them. Market Musicata Pro https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/2562-breakouts-acted-on https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/manufactured-chart-week A coordinated bot campaign has a fingerprint in the raw data. Streaming counts are only the first layer. Method Musicata Pro https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/manufactured-chart-week https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/recovering-340k-2100-title-catalogue Six months inside a back-catalogue recovery: the writer, the gaps, and the claim that settled in ninety-one days. Forensic Black Box https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/recovering-340k-2100-title-catalogue https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/helsinki-spike-question-not-answer Anomalies are cheap. Evidence is not. A short paper on the difference between a chart movement and a verified listening event. Method Musicata Pro https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/helsinki-spike-question-not-answer https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/561m-mlc-unclaimed-one-country-one-rights-type The scale of the black box, measured in dollars rather than rhetoric. And what a single-country figure implies globally. Market Black Box https://musicintel.co.uk/industry/research/561m-mlc-unclaimed-one-country-one-rights-type