Field Notes from the four Offices.
Source-backed dispatches from four Music Intel Offices. Each published note identifies its evidence class, dates, method, limitations and direct sources so readers can separate public evidence from Music Intel analysis and editorial opinion.
Chief Executive's Office
Music Data Intelligence
Market sizing, commercial consequence, and the money on the table. Board and investor facing. It does the sums and shows them.
Streaming Didn’t Just Change How We Listen. It Turned Music Into a Data Industry
Paper 01 of the Music Intel research series traces how streaming quietly rebuilt the music industry, from units sold to usage counted. Download the free paper.
The Music Industry Built a Global Distribution System Before It Built a Global Identity System
Paper 02 of the Music Intel research series explains why music has more data than ever, yet the complete picture around a work or recording is still so hard to establish.
You Don’t Know What You’re Missing: The Practical Limits of Royalty Investigation
Paper 03 of the Music Intel research series asks how any royalty investigator, however experienced, can know that everything reasonably available has been considered.
Investigating the Information: What Royalty Investigation Can Learn From Mature Investigative Markets
Paper 04 of the Music Intel research series looks at how legal disclosure and digital forensics solved the too-much-data problem, and what that means for royalty investigation.
The Economics of Knowing: When Better Music Data Becomes Financial Intelligence
The final paper in the Music Intel research series shows how the data that answers ‘have I been paid correctly?’ can also help answer ‘what is this catalogue worth?’
The MLC historical royalties pool: what the current figures show
The MLC reported an adjusted historical total of $397.3 million and $238.7 million distributed through September 2026. The remaining balance is not automatically synonymous with unmatched royalties.
Neighbouring rights are substantial, international and data-dependent
Current PPL, GVL and SENA figures show the scale of neighbouring-rights activity. Coverage, mandates, eligibility and recording data determine the path to payment.
How publication works.
Published notes pass an evidence gate and show their source list, method and limitations. Evidence-incomplete drafts remain out of search, feeds and product journeys until that work is complete. To receive new Field Notes by email when they post, Suggest a research question.