Morgan Wallen, HARDY, HIXTAPE + More Songwriter Royalties

In January 2023, two of the biggest albums in country music each opened with a song from this catalog. Morgan Wallen released "I Wrote the Book" ahead of One Thing at a Time. Three weeks earlier, HARDY had released ".30-06" on the mockingbird & THE CROW, which debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. A catalog earning roughly $8,500 the year before earned $79,600 in 2023.

Part of 2023 earnings included a premium that no longer applies. BMI pays a bonus on top of ordinary streaming royalties to the works that rank among the most-streamed in its repertoire. "I Wrote the Book" qualified through 2023 and drew about $25,500 of bonus income that year, nearly 40% of everything the song paid. Three years later it is now past its initial peak showing signs of stabilization. It earned $2,540 in 4Q25 and $2,520 in 1Q26, a difference of less than 1%. 

Streaming is where the money comes from, at 80% of the last twelve months, spread across Apple Music at 23% of all earnings, Spotify at 17%, Pandora at 14% and Amazon at 10%. Live performance royalties add another 8%, since both Morgan Wallen and HARDY remain active touring artists whose shows pay royalties when these songs are played and carry them to new listeners.

For an investor, the case is that the expensive part of the decline has already happened, in public, on the chart. The hit bonus has come and gone, the release-year peak is three years back, and what remains is a streaming base whose rate of decline is flattening. Alongside it sits a roster of eleven recording acts on records released continuously from 2016 through 2025, spanning stadium country through pop and indie, and the catalog.

For a detailed analysis of earnings trends, cash flow projections, and investment criteria, review the full Investment Memorandum.

Seventeen songs recorded by eleven acts across country, pop and indie, released between 2016 and 2025, with the heaviest weight on two of the most decorated names working in country music today.

Morgan Wallen recorded three of them. "I Wrote the Book" arrived on January 31, 2023 as part of the second sampler for his third studio album One Thing at a Time; it debuted at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100, jumped to No. 38 the following week. Two more come from his 2018 debut If I Know Me, which reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and is certified triple platinum: "Gone Girl" and "Whatcha Know 'Bout That." The latter is built on an interpolation of the 1987 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band standard "Fishin' in the Dark." 

HARDY accounts for four. ".30-06" appeared on the mockingbird & THE CROW in January 2023, an album that debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and arrived while he was the reigning ACM Songwriter of the Year, the 2022 BMI Country Songwriter of the Year and a two-time AIMP Songwriter of the Year. "HAPPY HOUR," featuring Knox, came from Quit!! in July 2024, his first full embrace of rock. "Goodbye" arrived on Country! Country! in September 2025. And "My Kinda Livin'," featuring Hunter Phelps and Jameson Rodgers, opened the collaborative HIXTAPE: Vol. 1 in September 2019, a project on which HARDY performed alongside seventeen other country artists including Keith Urban, Trace Adkins and Joe Diffie.

Earnings Note. The 2023 distributions contain approximately $25,500 in BMI hits bonus payments for "I Wrote the Book," concentrated in the first two quarters (approximately $13,700 and $7,300 respectively), from the song's peak streaming volume in its release year. Any similar payments in the future will be payable to the buyer.