Music royalties in probate - a guide for executors and estate lawyers

What happens to music royalties in a deceased estate

Music royalties in probate are treated like any other estate asset - the right to receive them passes to the estate, and the executor must identify the rights, notify the organisations that pay the royalties, and transfer ownership to the beneficiaries once probate is granted. The income does not stop when the rights holder dies. It continues to accrue and is held on the deceased's account until the estate proves its entitlement, usually with the grant of probate. This guide walks executors and estate lawyers through the process step by step, assuming no music industry knowledge at all.

Music rights are property of the estate

Copyright is intangible property, and it passes through an estate in exactly the same way as a house or a share portfolio - under the will, or under the intestacy rules if there is no will. According to the UK Intellectual Property Office, copyright in a song (the written music and lyrics) lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, and copyright in a sound recording lasts for 70 years from publication. That means a catalogue can keep earning for decades after the death, and GOV.UK probate guidance requires executors to identify and value every asset of the estate - including intangible ones like music rights - before applying for the grant of probate.

The two assets - master recordings and publishing

Every commercially released piece of music is actually two separate copyrights, owned and paid separately. The master recording is the actual recorded audio - the thing you hear on Spotify or the radio. The publishing right is the underlying song itself - the melody and lyrics as a written work, regardless of who records it. A deceased person may have owned one, the other, or both. They are administered through entirely different organisations and payment routes, which is why an estate must trace each one separately. Royalties from the master flow through the distributor and through PPL, while royalties from the song flow through PRS and MCPS - four routes that never cross-check each other. Missing one of the two rights is the single most common gap in music estate administration, and it happens most often when the deceased was a self-releasing artist who wrote their own material and therefore held both rights personally.

The organisations and codes you will encounter

Music royalty paperwork is full of acronyms. These are the ones an executor actually needs to understand:

• PRS (Performing Right Society) - the UK body that collects royalties for songwriters and publishers when songs are played, streamed, broadcast, or performed. If the deceased wrote music, they were probably a PRS member.
• PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) - the UK body that collects royalties for performers and recording owners when recordings are played in public or broadcast. Separate from PRS, with a separate membership.
• MCPS (Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society) - collects royalties when songs are reproduced, for example when a recording is manufactured or streamed. Administered alongside PRS.
• ISRC - a unique code identifying each individual recording, like a serial number for a track.
• ISWC - a unique code identifying each individual song (the written work), separate from any recording of it.
• Distributor and DSPs - the distributor is the company that delivers recordings to digital service providers (DSPs) such as Spotify and Apple Music, and pays through the streaming income.

The first 90 days - an executor's checklist

Work through these steps as early in the administration as possible. None of them requires music industry expertise - they are about locating paperwork and notifying the right organisations:

• Locate all distribution agreements, record contracts, and publishing agreements among the deceased's papers and email accounts. These documents tell you who controls the recordings and songs, and on what terms.
• Identify every collection society membership - PRS, PPL, and MCPS in the UK, plus any international societies the deceased joined directly.
• Notify each society of the death, and follow up with the grant of probate (or letters of administration) once issued. Each society has a process for recognising the estate as successor.
• Freeze or redirect payment routing. Royalties may be paying into a bank account that is now frozen, or into a distributor balance nobody is monitoring. Redirect payments to the executor's estate account where possible.
• Do not let distributor or DSP accounts lapse. Keep logins secure, keep any subscription fees paid, and do not close email accounts that receive statements - losing dashboard access can take months to recover.

Royalties keep accruing during probate - they are held, not lost

A common fear is that royalties disappear if the estate does not act immediately. In almost all cases they do not. PRS, PPL, and the international societies continue to collect and simply hold the money in the deceased member's account until the estate completes the transfer process. Delay means the money is held for longer, not lost. The main exceptions are some distribution platforms with shorter unclaimed-balance policies, and accounts that lapse because nobody kept the login or paid a renewal fee. That is why the checklist above prioritises preserving access over everything else.

Valuing music assets for probate and inheritance tax

GOV.UK guidance requires estate assets to be valued at open market value for inheritance tax purposes, and music catalogues are usually valued as a multiple of their net annual royalty income. The multiple depends on how stable the income is, how old the catalogue is, and which rights the estate actually owns. One factor executors consistently underestimate is metadata - the registration data behind each song and recording. If ownership records at the societies are incomplete or wrong, a buyer or valuer cannot verify what the estate owns, and the valuation suffers. A catalogue audit before valuation is often worthwhile for exactly this reason. For anything beyond a trivial income stream, obtain a professional valuation supported by royalty statements from the societies and the distributor - HMRC can challenge estate valuations, and a documented, verifiable figure protects the executor.

Common mistakes in music estate administration

The same errors come up repeatedly in music estates, and most of them are avoidable:

• Distributing the estate to beneficiaries before the rights transfers are registered with PRS, PPL, and the distributor - leaving royalties flowing to accounts nobody controls.
• Missing international societies. If the deceased had airplay or streams abroad, money may be sitting with societies in Germany, France, the US, and elsewhere, and it will not be volunteered.
• Losing access to distributor dashboards and the email addresses attached to them, which can lock the estate out of both income and the ability to manage releases.
• Assuming a modest catalogue is worthless and letting registrations and releases lapse, when even small royalty streams run for decades.

When to bring in a specialist music administrator

If the estate has more than a handful of releases, any international income, or incomplete paperwork, specialist help usually pays for itself. A music administrator will audit the catalogue, identify every registration and royalty stream, correct metadata, handle the society transfers, and manage ongoing collection on the estate's behalf. Code Group Music does this work for estates on a commission basis - there is no upfront fee, and fees are only earned on royalties actually collected. That structure matters for executors, who are personally accountable for estate expenses and rarely want to commit estate funds to speculative professional costs.

How to start

The first step is a catalogue assessment - a structured review of what the estate owns, where royalties are being collected, what is being missed, and what the transfer process will involve. It is also the right route for any question about fees and engagement terms. Executors, estate solicitors, and beneficiaries can begin at codegroupmusic.co.uk/#catalog-assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions