Barnett Klane, VP of Product at Trolley, hashing it out with group members (Photograph: Trolley)
If you happen to’re managing a music catalog, you’re additionally most likely managing fraud, duplicated knowledge, and lacking information. However why, in 2025, is the music {industry} nonetheless overwhelmed with model 1.0 issues? Trolley says a giant a part of the issue happens on the supply, when artists are onboarded.
Unhealthy knowledge has a price ticket, billed within the type of misdirected funds and siphoned-off fraud. However for all of the {industry} hand-wringing over fraud, duplicated knowledge, and mismatches, what’s the precise answer right here?
Fraud is the music {industry}’s boogeyman and what attracts essentially the most consideration. However we continuously hear that knowledge errors are sometimes unintentional or the results of outdated methods.
It’s a basic ‘malevolence vs. incompetence’ dichotomy, with knowledge errors continuously rooted within the latter. That’s comforting on some stage, although the top end result is identical: dangerous knowledge means misdirected or nonexistent royalty funds — or worse, litigation or missed licensing alternatives.
Fortunately, the {industry} is getting smarter at managing a lot of these recurring points.
In accordance with Trolley, the fintech participant dealing with cost and verification options for a rising variety of music corporations, a big share of the music {industry}’s points originate on the supply. That’s, the preliminary phases when rightsholder and cost particulars are first collected and managed — and infrequently solely partially verified and vetted.
Digital Music Information just lately partnered with Trolley to broaden consciousness on urgent knowledge and royalty points like these. “If it’s rubbish in, it’s rubbish out,” Barnett Klane, VP of Product at Trolley, bluntly advised us. “If it’s good knowledge being ingested, it means good knowledge out, and your complete knowledge ecosystem round a catalog transforms.”
Past the music {industry}, Trolley handles cost expertise, account verification, and compliance for a broad variety of industries. So we requested: is the music {industry} doing worse than different industries?
Sadly, the reply from them is a particular sure.
Final yr, Trolley carried out a cross-industry evaluation revealing a stark actuality: on the subject of funds and the knowledge surrounding them, the music {industry} faces a considerably increased share of data-related points than different sectors, together with the creator, influencer, gaming, advert tech, and freelancer economies, in addition to broader marketplaces.
Particularly, Trolley noticed 151% extra duplicate recipient information (duplicates of the identical particular person matched to a typical distinctive identifier) and 189% increased common knowledge discrepancies (knowledge factors that don’t match) within the music {industry} versus different sectors.
These are monumental variations and spotlight the music {industry}’s battle with data-related issues in numerous kinds, together with fraud.
This less-than-stellar report card comes towards an more and more troublesome {industry} backdrop. Labels, publishers, streaming music platforms, distributors, and music IP buyers are all below scrutiny to cut back errors and get rid of fraud, notably towards the rising risk posed by AI.
The overriding aim is to extend the {industry}’s collective earnings by addressing elementary knowledge points. However how does that occur, notably given the persistent and rising pile of dangerous, lacking, or fraudulent knowledge corrupting in any other case high-earning catalogs?
“After working the cross-industry numbers, we knew we may deliver the music {industry} nearer to broader {industry} averages in knowledge accuracy and reliability,” Klane defined.
On the coronary heart of Trolley’s strategy is “Trolley Belief,” an industry-agnostic cost recipient verification toolkit that features elements which are based mostly on current ‘Know Your Buyer’ (KYC) and ‘Know Your Enterprise’ (KYB) frameworks utilized in banking and different sectors. Belief depends on a broad number of verification steps, threat scores, and account flags to make sure uploads are legit.
Beneath an identical framework for music, ‘Know Your Artist’ or KYA, the Belief toolkit ensures the identities of artists and rights holders are correct and confirmed, minimizing fraudulent funds. This entails primary steps like gathering authorities IDs and enterprise paperwork, in addition to extra refined applied sciences like face matching and reside ID video verification to stop AI-powered identification fraud. Threat scores and account flags assist establish suspicious actions, permitting for proactive intervention.
(For a deeper dive into Know Your Artist (KYA), go right here.)
Trolley’s logic is straightforward. A extra sturdy upfront verification system considerably impacts how royalties are distributed and managed, rising effectivity and decreasing fraud.
This enhances belief amongst stakeholders and boosts general {industry} valuations and earnings. In accordance with Trolley, cleaner knowledge on the preliminary phases, due to Belief’s IDV, TIN matching, and watchlist screening, dramatically minimizes downstream issues.
“KYA isn’t simply one other compliance checkbox,” Klane relayed. “It’s our end-to-end technique for figuring out and defending music corporations and the artists they pay, powered by the Belief toolkit so each royalty reaches the correct arms, each time.”
Klane additionally emphasised that verification and belief monitoring are ongoing processes, with a post-delivery self-discipline that’s continuously neglected. Detailed recipient profiles and exercise monitoring can even assist to establish patterns related to bot streams or artificially inflated engagement.
And what in regards to the infamous ‘black field,’ which DMN estimates accommodates billions in unpaid and unmatched royalties?
On this level, it was refreshing to come across Trolley’s optimism. With regards to the black field, Trolley reverted to their core thesis, with higher knowledge and a extra protected KYA framework providing an antidote towards dangerous actors.
On that observe, Klane is keen to place Trolley’s upfront, preventative KYA framework towards any firm’s post-hoc, remedial processes.
“Upstream verification is important to guard towards fraud,” Klane burdened. “By implementing sturdy verification methods, the music {industry} can transfer in direction of a extra reliable, environment friendly, and clear ecosystem. And one which lastly begins to appear to be different industries.”
In any case, what’s riskier: implementing new instruments and stress-testing your methods, or letting dangerous knowledge do the testing for you?
Don’t anticipate fraud or dangerous knowledge to check your methods. Learn to combat it on the supply—watch Trolley’s on-demand webinar: ‘Preventing music {industry} fraud on the supply: How a brand new Know Your Artist strategy is placing extra money in the correct pockets’.
