Musical rights are the legal framework allowing artists, labels and distributors to earn revenue from their work, primarily by licensing musical compositions (publishing) and selling recordings (distribution).
CONNECT tracks ownership rights and distribution rights claimed by record labels and distributors. These claims apply to recordings (ISRCs) and products (ICPNs), collectively called musical assets.
Ownership can refer to copyright on musical works or possession of master recordings. Ownership rights grant creative control and the ability to license the work to be recorded, reproduced and/or distributed by other parties.
Distribution is the process of making musical products and recordings available for consumption in streaming, digital or physical format. Distribution rights grant the ability to reproduce musical assets, market them for public consumption and earn revenue from sales and streaming.
Rights holders submit claims to Luminate. These claims specify which entities have ownership and/or distribution rights, for which ICPNs and ISRCs, in which locations, for how long and in what percentages (for split claims).
Upcoming CONNECT releases will show claims information on Dashboards and permit rights holders to view relevant provider data. Musical rights claims will factor into Market Share displays.
To support the above, we're introducing a new system for faster, simpler and more responsive claims submission. The enhanced claims process, supported by a Musical Rights API, will go live later this year.
Back to Registration and Reporting
All rights holders will have the option to claim musical assets with the Luminate Musical Rights API.
The legacy system did not offer a consistent way to submit claims and onboard new claim providers. The new system is streamlined and easy to implement; we’ll offer templates, forms and step-by-step instructions.
The new claims process gives all rights holders—new and existing—access to the Musical Rights API. Even if you’ve never sent us claims data before, you’ll be able to submit via API as soon as it’s available.
In the past, we primarily tracked distribution rights, with limited visibility into ownership. The new system supports ownership and distribution claims for recordings and products in the U.S. and Canada. We’ll also be able to add more claim types in the future.
API claims will automatically be incorporated into Luminate’s market share calculations. The CONNECT platform will show ownership and distribution splits and offer more overall visibility into market share.
Modern music distribution isn’t bound to rigid release days or predictable schedules. The new normal is off-schedule, “anytime” releases—sometimes on short notice. Our enhanced process permits rights holders to send claims on demand, in any order, anytime throughout the day for nightly processing and next-day rights assignment.
Claims submitted using the new process can specify applicable date ranges that start in the past or on a future date. CONNECT will automatically update claims to reflect new, updated or expired effective dates.
Finding and correcting errors in manual submissions is time-consuming, costly and not guaranteed. But the new API will detect errors, discrepancies and missing data automatically. If your submission is unsuccessful, the system will flag issues and alert you right away.
Prepare to submit claims by gathering or verifying the below.
We can only accept claims on musical assets in our database. Recordings and products must be registered with a valid ISRC or ICPN for us to 1) display them in CONNECT and 2) assign claims information.
To prevent backlogs, submit new claims immediately after you register recordings and products with us. Check submission status by searching the ISRC or ICPN.
If you’ve submitted claims in the past or asked to become a new claims provider, we’ll let you know when the Musical Rights API is available. If you choose to start using the API, we’ll supply an API key and instructions during onboarding.
For each asset you claim, you’ll need to submit key data and metadata in a standard format.
Each claim must include at least one standard ID code. For Products, we accept ICPN, GRID, UPC and EAN codes. For Recordings, we only accept ISRCs.
- Rights Type: Distribution or Ownership
- Catalog Code: User-specified code identifying the rights holder within your organization (label, sublabel, imprint, etc.) or the catalog it belongs to.
- Channel (Distribution): List of claimed distribution channels (Physical, Digital)
- Territories: List of claimed countries (ISO country codes)*
- Share (Ownership): Percent of ownership claimed
- Effective Date: Earliest date for which the musical rights claim becomes valid
*Currently accepting U.S. and Canada only
We use metadata to validate claims and assign them to the correct entities in CONNECT.
- Display Title
- Display Artist
- Recording Type: Audio / Video*
- Release Type: Album, EP, etc.**
- Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital, etc.**
- Parental Advisory
- Imprint: Label name listed on the product
- Artists: Any contributing artists other than the Display Artist, listed with names, roles and identifiers
*Applies to Recordings only
**Applies to Products only
The Musical Rights API accepts JSON-formatted POST requests. We’ll provide tech specs, sample messages and templates.
Submissions for new claims, revised claims and claim terminations will follow the same steps:
The API accepts POST requests: API calls that initiate additions or edits to Luminate’s rights data. Messages must be in JSON format and include at least one asset with complete claims data.
We accept bulk claims of up to 500 assets per message. For releases (albums, EPs etc), we recommend sending all assets in a single request; each asset must be listed separately by ISRC and ICPN.
The API will automatically respond to confirm your submission and/or flag issues. Message responses contain 3 sections:
Success: Confirmation of successful new claims, updated claims and/or terminated claims. Includes a total count and list of assets.
Warnings: Minor data issues that don’t block claims submission, such as unassigned catalog codes and metadata discrepancies.
Failures: Missing or invalid data resulting in rejected claims. This section lists failed claims with itemized errors for each affected asset. These can include missing standard IDs, invalid country codes, unregistered assets or invalid claim types.
Check and correct items flagged as Failures in your original request.
If your claim was successful, you’ll be able to view claims data in the CONNECT platform. Claims information will be visible on the Dashboard for each claimed entity.
We’ll launch the Musical Rights API later this year, at which point we’ll begin transitioning select rights holders. Expect an announcement and more information in a few months. Your Luminate account representative will share details, tech specs and resources as they become available.
During the transition period, we’ll work with all rights holders to address specific user needs, provide onboarding support and take feedback on the new process.
We’ll give ample notice before implementing changes. In the meantime, we’ll continue to accept claims through existing channels. There won’t be any disruption to the submission process for now.