CreateBase vs Songtrust: Publishing Administration Compared

TL;DR

Songtrust charges a $100 setup fee plus 15% of all publishing royalties it collects, permanently. CreateBase charges $200/year plus a performance share only on new royalties it actively recovers. The key difference: Songtrust's 15% applies to every royalty it collects — including royalties from registrations that would have been collected without Songtrust. For an independent artist collecting $600/month in publishing royalties, Songtrust costs $1,080/year. For the same artist using CreateBase for gap recovery only, the cost is $200/year plus a share of new royalties found. Songtrust is a legitimate publishing administration service; the question is whether you need full administration or targeted gap recovery.

Pricing and feature information is based on publicly available sources as of March 2026. Verify current details at each company's website.

What Songtrust Does

Songtrust is one of the most widely used publishing administration services for independent songwriters. Founded in 2011, it serves over 300,000 songwriters and publishers in 245 countries and territories, according to Songtrust's website.

Songtrust handles:

• Registration of songs with ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC
• Registration with The MLC for US mechanical royalties
• International royalty collection through agreements with 60+ CMOs worldwide
• Publishing royalty collection and payment with a unified dashboard

It is a full publishing administration service — meaning it takes on the ongoing management of your publishing royalties for a percentage of everything it collects.

Feature Comparison

The Pricing Difference

This is where the comparison matters most.

Songtrust: $100 setup fee plus 15% of all publishing royalties Songtrust collects, indefinitely. There is no end date to the 15% — if you use Songtrust for ten years, they take 15% of every royalty for ten years.

For an artist collecting $500/month in publishing royalties:

• Year 1: $100 setup + $900 in Songtrust's 15% = $1,000
• Year 2: $900
• Year 5: $4,600 total paid to Songtrust

CreateBase: $200/year plus a performance share on royalties that CreateBase actively recovers. Royalties already flowing through your existing registrations are not subject to CreateBase's fee. If you were already collecting $500/month before working with CreateBase, that $500/month isn't subject to the performance share.

For an artist with existing royalty flows who wants to close specific gaps, the cumulative cost difference over several years is substantial.

What Songtrust Doesn't Cover

SoundExchange. Songtrust's scope is publishing royalties — song compositions, performance royalties, and mechanical royalties. SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties for sound recordings from Pandora, SiriusXM, and internet radio. This is a separate royalty type outside Songtrust's scope.

International neighboring rights. PPL (UK), GVL (Germany), and other international neighboring rights organizations pay artists and masters owners for recordings broadcast or streamed in those territories. These are recording-side royalties, separate from publishing, and outside Songtrust's scope.

ISRC reconciliation. The most common cause of unmatched royalties is an ISRC mismatch between your distributor and PRO/MLC registrations. Songtrust doesn't audit or correct ISRC alignment. If you have ISRC mismatches, Songtrust will register your works but the underlying mismatch that's causing royalties to go unmatched won't be addressed.

Retroactive unmatched royalty claims. For royalties sitting in The MLC's unmatched pool, filing a retroactive claim requires specific documentation and ISRC matching. Songtrust's service model focuses on ongoing registration and collection, not claim investigation.

Where Songtrust Genuinely Wins

Established track record. Songtrust has been operating since 2011 and has a long track record with over 300,000 songwriters. For independent artists who want a proven, established service, Songtrust's history is reassuring.

60+ CMO relationships. Songtrust has direct relationships with over 60 collecting societies worldwide. For artists with broad international catalog exposure across many smaller markets, Songtrust's CMO network is genuinely comprehensive.

Simplicity. Songtrust's model is straightforward: pay $100, give them 15%, and they handle ongoing publishing administration. For artists who don't want to think about royalties and are willing to pay for that simplicity, it's a clean setup.

Songwriter-first focus. Songtrust is built around the songwriter's experience — its dashboard, registration flow, and customer support are optimized for independent songwriters, not administrators.

Which Is Right for You?

Choose CreateBase if:

• You want to understand your specific gaps before committing to ongoing administration fees
• You already have some publishing registrations in place and want targeted gap recovery
• You want to address SoundExchange, ISRC mismatches, and neighboring rights in the same engagement
• You prefer to pay a performance share on new recoveries rather than 15% of all royalties indefinitely
• You have royalties in The MLC's unmatched pool that need active claim filing

Consider Songtrust if:

• You're starting from zero with no existing publishing registrations and want a single service to handle everything
• You prefer the simplicity of a full-service administration model
• You have limited time and want ongoing management handled for you at a predictable percentage
• You want Songtrust's established brand and track record
• The 60+ CMO relationships matter for your specific international exposure

What CreateBase Does Specifically

• Free 48-hour royalty gap report identifying every gap across all royalty streams
• Full ISRC reconciliation between distributor records and ASCAP, BMI, and MLC
• Registration and unmatched royalty claims at The MLC with documentation
• SoundExchange registration as featured artist and sound recording copyright owner
• CWR filings for international CMO propagation (GEMA, PRS, SOCAN, and others)
• Neighboring rights registration with PPL, GVL, SENA, and other key societies
• Co-writer split verification and coordination for complete ownership data
• Ongoing monitoring to confirm royalty flows are working correctly

Get your free royalty gap report → CreateBase identifies every gap in your royalty stack within 48 hours. Free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between publishing administration and royalty gap recovery?

A: Publishing administration services (Songtrust, TuneCore Publishing, KOSIGN) take on ongoing management of your publishing royalties for a percentage of everything collected. Royalty gap recovery (CreateBase) audits your existing setup, identifies specific problems causing royalties to go unmatched, fixes those problems, and files claims for accumulated royalties. The two approaches serve different needs: administration if you want someone to manage everything indefinitely; gap recovery if you want specific problems solved and prefer to manage ongoing administration yourself.

Q: Does Songtrust's 15% apply indefinitely?

A: Based on Songtrust's published terms, the 15% administrative fee applies to all royalties collected through Songtrust's service for as long as you remain a Songtrust client. Unlike an upfront fee, this means the cumulative cost increases with every year of enrollment and every dollar of royalties earned. Artists who enroll early in their career and grow their royalty income significantly over time pay proportionally more.

Q: Can I use both Songtrust and CreateBase?

A: If you're already enrolled in Songtrust, CreateBase can address the gaps Songtrust doesn't cover: SoundExchange registration, ISRC reconciliation, and international neighboring rights. These are entirely separate royalty streams outside Songtrust's scope. CreateBase can also audit whether Songtrust's registrations are correctly matching to your actual streaming data — even if Songtrust filed the registrations, ISRC mismatches can still prevent proper matching.

Q: Does Songtrust handle SoundExchange?

A: No. Songtrust's scope is publishing royalties — performance royalties from PROs and mechanical royalties from The MLC. SoundExchange is a recording-side organization that pays digital performance royalties for recordings played on non-interactive services (Pandora, SiriusXM, internet radio). This is separate from publishing and requires separate registration at soundexchange.com.

Q: Is Songtrust's $100 setup fee refundable?

A: Based on Songtrust's published terms, the setup fee is non-refundable. This makes the free audit from CreateBase a useful first step before committing to any paid service — knowing what your gaps are and what's recoverable helps you make a more informed decision about which service model fits your situation.

Sources

• Songtrust — Current pricing and feature information
• The MLC 2023 Annual Royalty Recap — Over $400M in US unmatched mechanicals; $3B+ distributed since 2021
• CISAC Global Collections Report 2024 — €12.59 billion in global royalty collections in 2024
• SoundExchange — Digital performance royalties outside publishing administration scope