Conflict Lifecycle

Conflicts are detected when two or more conflicting ownership claims appear in the same rights domain for the same work. For "Midnight Run": the platform's ingestion system detects two ISRC registrations for the same recording — one from Producer A's distributor (60% ownership) and one from Label B (100% ownership).

Before a conflict can be assessed, all the raw data must be normalized into a consistent format.

• •Matching recordings across ISRCs, UPCs, and metadata variants
• •Resolving name variations (artist aliases, alternate titles)
• •Mapping rights claims to standard rights domains (master, publishing, mechanical, performance)
• •De-duplicating records from different sources

Triage Factors

Triage determines the priority and complexity of the conflict.

• •<strong>Severity</strong> — how much money is at stake? How many territories are affected?
• •<strong>Parties</strong> — how many claimants? Are they represented by legal counsel?
• •<strong>Evidence quality</strong> — are signed contracts available? Or only registration records?
• •<strong>Age</strong> — when did the conflict originate? How much royalty accumulation is at stake?

Each party is asked to submit documentation supporting their claim.

• •Signed contracts and split sheets
• •PRO registration confirmations and timestamps
• •Distributor submission records with dates
• •Correspondence establishing intent (emails, Slack, producer invoices)
• •Copyright registration certificates

Most conflicts are resolved through negotiation before reaching formal arbitration.

Once parties reach agreement (or a determination is made), the resolution is formalized.

After resolution, the conflict record is archived with all submitted evidence, the timeline of events, resolution terms, and pattern data. Archived conflicts are a valuable resource — patterns across resolved cases reveal systemic issues like distributor gaps, PRO registration mismatches, or recurring split sheet problems that can be addressed upstream.