The Working Instruments

The five intakes

Each intake belongs to one employee, and the file moves in pipeline order: Ida keys, Booker books, Sylvia papers, Curtis counts — and James's intake stays locked until Curtis lights the gate. Every instrument is built the house way: the mistakes go up front, every question carries a prevention note, the math comes with a worked example, and each section ends with a self-check and a submit checklist.

The rule that governs all five: "I don't know" is always an acceptable answer — a guessed answer never is. A "don't know" becomes a named task for your employee. A guess becomes a wrong record that somebody gets paid on, or doesn't. And never type a Social Security number into any intake on this site. It is never asked for.

Whose file is this?

Your name

You are coming as

Instrument 1 · Seat 1

Ida's Identity Intake

Purpose: establish the one legal name form, the one affiliation, and the one IPI your whole business will be keyed to. Everything else in your file hangs off this page. If you already ran the free scan on the front door, answer again here — the file must be whole in one place.

The mistakes that break files — read first

Giving your stage name where your legal name belongs. The legal-name question keys your money; answer it with the name on your government ID, character for character.
Guessing your IPI. A guessed or mis-remembered IPI keys your works to a stranger. If you have never seen it, say so.
Listing only the name you use now. Old names are not embarrassment; they are unclaimed property.
Assuming affiliation you don't have — or denying affiliation you do. Both are fixable once stated honestly.

1.1 Your legal name, exactly as it appears on your government ID

Middle names and suffixes (Jr., II, III) count. If your ID says it, write it.

1.2 Every other name you have ever written, performed, or released under

If a label ever spelled your name wrong on a record, that wrong spelling is a name form. List it.

1.3 Are you affiliated with a performing rights organization?

Having an account in a PRO's app and being an affiliated writer are related but not identical.

1.4 Your IPI number, if you have ever seen it

It appears on your PRO writer profile and on royalty statements. Your IPI is not your member/account number. "Not seen it" is a complete answer.

1.5 Do you hold an ISNI?

Most writers don't have one. "I don't know" costs you nothing here.

1.6 Can you produce your PRO writer record or profile printout?

The single most valuable document in this intake. In this first season you declare it here; the team asks for the file itself when your file is worked. A royalty statement with your name on it, any year, is the second document Ida asks for.

Has your legal name ever changed?

Marriage, divorce, and court changes all count.

Are you answering for yourself, or for an estate or another writer?

If this file belongs to a deceased writer, say so plainly. Estate files are normal here, and they key differently.

Self-check — Ida My legal name above matches my ID exactly, including suffixes. Every name I've ever been credited under is listed — including the misspellings. I did not guess an IPI, an ISNI, or an affiliation. Submit checklist — Ida All questions answered or marked "I don't know." Writer record declared, or "I can't produce it yet" marked.

Instrument 2 · Seat 2

Booker's Catalog Intake

Purpose: list every composition you have a hand in, by title, with its writers and its split as you understand it. If it isn't listed here, it doesn't exist — and what doesn't exist doesn't get paid.

The mistakes that break files — read first

Listing only released songs. Drafts, demos, performed-only works, and unsubmitted registrations are works. The drawer is part of the catalog.
Forgetting the battles, the freestyles, and the features. If you wrote it and it was performed or recorded, it belongs on this list — including verses you wrote for other people's records.
Splits that don't add to 100. Every work's shares must sum to exactly 100%. A catalog full of 90s and 110s cannot be registered, administered, or paid.
Writing "me" for writers you shared the work with. A co-writer you omit is a claim against the work later. Naming them now is cheaper in every currency.

Worked example — how a catalog row is filled in

Title: "O-SOLO VS GAGE" (your works are listed by the title they were registered or released under — exactly, including the other man's name if it's in the title)
Writers: Omar H. (me) — and the opposing performer, split not yet agreed
Split: carried as an open question — this is a correct entry. A split you haven't agreed is stated as open, never invented.
ISWC: none known · Status: registered (PRO) · Where it lives: battle footage, league stage

Contrast — a clean row: Title: "Corner Store Confession" · Writers: Dana W. 50% / Marcus L. 50% · Split sums to 100 ✓ · ISWC: T-123.456.789-0 · Status: released, registered

How many works do you believe you have, in total?

Booker scores coverage honestly: works listed below against this number. A bigger honest number beats a smaller invented one.

Can you produce your PRO catalog printout?

This single document settles more arguments than any other paper in the building. Partial lists are welcome; Booker reconciles, you don't have to.

Self-check — Booker Every work is listed — released, unreleased, performed, and drafted. Every split I stated sums to 100, and every split I haven't agreed is marked "not agreed." Every work names all of its writers, not just me. Submit checklist — Booker One block per work, no work listed twice under two titles. Drafts counted and marked as drafts. Catalog printout declared, or marked "can't produce it yet."

Instrument 3 · Seat 3

Sylvia's Paper Intake

Purpose: find out what paper your business actually stands on — and name every arrangement that currently stands on a handshake. Sylvia's rule: adoption is not assignment. Nothing passes her desk unpapered and gets called done.

The mistakes that break files — read first

"We had an understanding." An understanding is not a split sheet, not an assignment, and not administration. It is a future dispute with a date on it.
Assuming the league / label / manager owns nothing because nobody said so. Silence in a contract is still a clause. In battle catalogs, the league contract is the first unread document: it may already decide who owns your verses.
Believing a filing happened because a form was filled in. Drafts inside an account are not filings. A registration exists when the office confirms it.
Signing a new agreement during prep without showing Sylvia first. New paper signed mid-file can assign away the very rights the file is assembling.

3.1 Do you have your own publishing company?

A publishing company is a business entity affiliated with a PRO as a publisher — not a logo, not a label name you release under.

3.2 Who administers your publishing today?

"Nobody" is a common and honest answer. Claiming an administrator you don't have is the mistake.

3.3 Which of the works in your catalog have signed split sheets?

A split sheet is signed by all writers at or near creation. A text message agreeing percentages is evidence, not a split sheet — Sylvia works with what's real.

3.4 List every agreement you have signed that touches your music

Include deals that have expired and deals you believe were never enforced. Expired paper still gets read; belief is not a term of any contract.

3.5 For battlers: have you signed a league agreement, a battle agreement, or a media release?

If you battled on a stage with cameras, paper of some kind almost certainly exists — a release at minimum.

If yes: has that contract been read — by you or anyone for you?

An unread league contract holds Sylvia's checkpoint down until it is read — it may already decide who owns the verses.

3.6 What has already been filed in your name?

Answer per system, and only what you can stand behind. Registrations you believe exist but cannot evidence are a normal state — and exactly what prep is for. Documents Sylvia asks for: every signed agreement above — the league contract first — plus any split sheets and any registration confirmations (confirmations, not application drafts).

Self-check — Sylvia Every deal I have ever signed is listed, including the expired and the embarrassing. I have not described an understanding as an agreement anywhere on this page. I understand Sylvia will prepare filings, and that prepared is not filed — filings are performed only under enrollment. Submit checklist — Sylvia Agreements listed; league paper flagged if it exists. Each missing document is named — a named absence is a task, an unnamed one is a landmine.

Instrument 4 · Seat 4

Curtis's Money Intake

Purpose: map your royalty picture as it actually stands — what has paid, what is stuck, and what is dark. Curtis counts what is. A dark answer honestly stated scores better than a bright one invented.

The mistakes that break files — read first

Reporting what you believe you're owed as what you've been paid. Curtis's map has separate columns for paid, stuck, and dark. Belief goes in its own question (4.5), labelled as belief.
Only sending the good statements. A quarter that paid nothing is data. The gaps in a statement history are where the map gets drawn.
Assuming streaming income covers the mechanical picture. Distributor payouts, PRO money, MLC money, and SoundExchange money are four different rails. Answer for each rail separately.
Forgetting performances. Concerts, church events, festival stages, anniversary shows — unreported performances are the commonest money a writer never sees.

4.1 Your PRO money: have you received statements in the last two years?

"No statements ever" from an affiliated writer with registered works is itself a finding — state it plainly. Curtis asks for the last four quarters you hold.

4.2 Your mechanical picture: is your catalog registered with the MLC?

Your distributor registering your recordings is not the same as your works being registered and matched at the MLC.

4.3 Your recording rails: who distributes your recordings?

Performer money rides the recording rails, separate from writer money. Background and session work counts — if you sang or played on other people's records, it belongs here.

4.4 Your performances, last five years

Include church events outside regular services, league stages, and showcases. Regular worship services are exempt by nature; the anniversary concert is not.

4.5 What do you believe you are owed that has never arrived?

This is the belief column, and it matters — beliefs point Curtis at where to dig. It is recorded as belief, never scored as fact. Documents Curtis asks for: PRO statements (last four quarters), distributor royalty reports, SoundExchange statements, and any setlists, programs, or flyers from 4.4.

Self-check — Curtis Paid, stuck, dark, and believed are answered separately — nothing blended. Every rail answered: PRO, MLC, distributor, SoundExchange, performances. Statement gaps are stated, not smoothed over. Submit checklist — the whole file Statements declared for every quarter I hold. My performance list covers five years, including other people's performances of my works.

Instrument 5 · Seat 5 · Past the gate

James's Demand Intake

Purpose: give James what he needs to work a release like a campaign. This intake is locked until Curtis lights the gate — all four checkpoints lit, score at Submission-Ready. That is not bureaucracy; it is James's rule. He only pushes fully fundable music, because a stream won for unpapered music is money earned for the black box.

The mistakes that break files — read first

Asking James to push a song whose file isn't ready. He will refuse, and the refusal is the product working. The road back is the seat whose checkpoint is dark — go light it.
Listing social handles you don't control. A campaign built on an account you can't post from is a parade with no street.
Forgetting the rooms that already played you. Radio history and station relationships are owned ground — part of the tower.
No next release. James campaigns toward a date. "Sometime" is not a date he can march on.

● Locked — James's door opens at Submission-Ready

Submit the full file above. If Curtis scores it Submission-Ready with no dark checkpoint, this door opens here and James's questions unlock. If it doesn't, the score names the dark checkpoint — that seat is your road back.