Inside Royalty Audits with Keith Bernstein

What really happens inside a music royalty audit? In this episode of the Artist Rights Institute Podcast,ARI Director Chris Castle sits down with royalty auditor and industry veteran Keith Bernstein for a deep dive into one of the least understood — but most important — areas of the music business.

Keith walks through how royalty audits actually work, what artists and songwriters routinely miss in their agreements, and why audit rights remain one of the few meaningful accountability tools available to creators in the modern streaming economy. The conversation explores how legacy accounting practices evolved into today’s digital royalty systems, why opaque reporting structures continue to create disputes, and how streaming has changed the economics of audits themselves.

We also discuss the practical realities facing artists considering an audit:

when an audit makes financial sense,
common red flags in royalty statements,
how reserves, deductions, and cross-collateralization affect payouts,
and why leverage often matters as much as legal language.

The episode also examines broader structural issues in the modern music business, including black-box royalties, DSP reporting opacity, metadata failures, and the increasing complexity of digital accounting chains involving labels, publishers, distributors, collection societies, and platforms.

Keith offers practical advice for artists, managers, lawyers, and business managers navigating royalty disputes in an era where billions of micro-transactions flow through systems few creators fully understand.

Topics include:

Record royalty audits
Publishing and mechanical royalty accounting
Streaming-era audit challenges
Metadata and matching failures
Audit clauses and contract negotiation
Catalog valuation and accounting transparency
DSP reporting systems
Black-box royalties
AI and the future of royalty administration

Whether you are an artist, songwriter, manager, attorney, or simply interested in how money actually moves through the music industry, this episode offers an unusually candid look behind the curtain.

Presented by the Artist Rights Institute.

#ArtistRights #MusicBusiness #RoyaltyAudits #Streaming #MusicIndustry #Songwriters #Publishing #DSPs #AI #Copyright #MechanicalRoyalties #Royalties #ArtistRightsInstitute

The information provided in this video is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or a solicitation for legal services. The views and opinions expressed are those of the moderators and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or legal entity. If you need legal advice, please consult with a qualified attorney. Copyright 2026, Artist Rights Institute. All Rights Reserved. Neither this video nor any transcript may be used for text or data mining or for the purpose of training artificial intelligence models or systems. Subject to Terms of Service at

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