When it comes to Work registrations within our system we require that the writer splits equal 100% and will not allow the Work registration process to begin until the writer splits equal exactly 100%. If the writer is unknown, or you lack the writers PRO affiliation because you do not have the information handy we recommend that you contact the writer and obtain their information so that you are able to register the work, including their information and splits, completely.
This is Unknown Writer process is not intended to be used as a substitute for obtaining your contributors information if you are able to. Works registered with Unknown Writers and/or unaffiliated writers are typically not eligible for ISWC assignments.
PRO: No Society (NS)
To facilitate the ability to register works with unknown or unaffiliated contributors you will use the PRO of NS which stands for No Society. When the PRO is NS our system does not require an IPI number be provided which is required for all other PRO affiliations.
Registering Known Unaffiliated Writers
If you know some information about the writer such as their first and last name or their performer name/alias we recommend that you create a contact with that information and specify their PRO as NS (No Society Affiliation). Registering their share in this manner can help ease the process of them asserting their rights and claiming their percentage at the PRO at a later date.
Create Unknown Writer Contact
In situations where you do not know the writer, do not have contact information for the writer and the writer is completely unknown we recommend that you create a Contact with the first name of Writer and last name of Unknown and leave the Writer IPI field blank. This Unknown Writer contact can then be used in the future when the writer is truly unknown.
Registering Splits with Unknown Writer / Known Unaffilated Writers
Once you have the Unknown Writer contact created you will then add the Unknown Writer contact as you would any other contributor to the Work, defined the splits associated with unknown writer(s) and proceed with the Work registration.
