Updating your SoundExchange catalog, a how-to

To make sure you get royalties for your work, one thing you (or someone you pay) will have to do is upload your catalog to SoundExchange.
WordPlay T. Jay suggests taking notes and breaking out your trusty abacus, as there is a lot of information that you’ll have to gather and organize to make sure your catalog is uploaded correctly.
For those who may not know, SoundExchange is a rights organization that allows you to collect royalties for web-based, digital radio station plays. SoundExchange collects from non-interactive webcasters (Pandora), satellite and digital cable TV (Music Choice and Muzak), and satellite radio services (SiriusXM).
If you perform and own your music, you should have two accounts, one as a creative rights owner and another as a performer.
Once registered, log in and go to My Catalog and Submit Recording. One option is to do a Bulk Import. This is the older way of submitting songs and is recommended for doing full albums or full catalogs.
To start and ad an individual recording, hit Add Recording and input the following information: Artist(s) name(s), song title, ISRC code comes from your distribution service), song duration, genre, release date, country of mastering, country of recording, publisher(s), (P)Line, your ISWC (from your performing rights organization), composer(s), first country of release (worldwide if online), copyright owner’s country, basis of claim, percentage, when rights begin and how long rights last.
The most important pieces of data in that list are the ISRC code and the claims. That metadata could prevent someone from trying to claim one of your songs and demanding a portion of the rights. All of that is based on the ISRC and arguments typically end up in rights disputes.
It is also important for you to have an upgraded DistroKid account if that’s what you use and want DistroKid to act as your record label.
This is the process if you want to go song by song, but if you want to upload an album or catalog via Bulk Import, you have to put all that same information in spreadsheet format.
When you do this, start with the ISRC codes, and also make sure each of your albums have their own UPC codes. When you upload the spreadsheet, the tracks will all show green on the screen if there are no issues.
To see a visual of this process, check out the video below!