Entertainment & Media · withPICA + Claude
withPICA MCP with Claude: Track Music Rights and Royalties Through Plain-English Requests
The short answer
Claude works with withPICA through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets Claude securely read and act within the platform. Using an API key with limited permissions, a team can ask Claude to update credits, review catalogues, prepare royalty reports and draft agreements in plain English. People approve consequential changes before they are saved.
What is withPICA?
withPICA is a music rights and catalogue platform. It holds works, recordings, credits, agreements, royalties, collaborators and related assets in one place. Music publishers, labels, artist managers, rights administrators and independent songwriters use it to keep track of who owns what and who should be paid when music is used across releases.
How Claude connects to withPICA through MCP
The Model Context Protocol, usually called MCP, is an open standard that lets Claude use other software securely. Think of it as a universal adapter between Claude and a tool. withPICA offers its own MCP server, and organisations can also reach the platform through its direct API. Either way, Claude only sees what the connection allows.
Once connected, Claude can look up works and recordings, check which credits are recorded against a release, update collaborator details, draft agreements and generate royalty summaries. A typical request might be to list every track on an album that is missing a songwriter credit. Claude then does the search and presents the results.
Access is controlled by the API key and its permissions. Organisations usually start with read-only access and add write permissions only where needed. Consequential actions, such as changing a split or issuing an agreement, can be set to require a person's approval first, so people stay in charge of every decision that affects money or contracts.
What you can automate
Credit and split corrections
A rights administrator notices that a co-writer is missing from a recently released single. They ask Claude to find every recording where that writer is absent and list the affected works. After review, Claude prepares the corrections, and the administrator approves them before the catalogue is updated. This saves hours of manual searching across a large back catalogue.
Royalty report preparation
A finance lead at a publishing company needs a quarterly summary of royalties by territory and by writer. They ask Claude to pull the relevant figures and format them into a report for review. Claude produces a draft that the finance team checks against source statements before it is shared with writers and partners.
Agreement drafting
An artist manager is signing a new songwriter and needs a standard co-publishing agreement with the right works and splits attached. They describe the terms in plain English, and Claude drafts the agreement from the existing catalogue records. Legal staff review the draft before anything is sent for signature.
Collaborator onboarding
When a new producer joins several projects, someone on the team must add their details and link them to each release. Claude can gather the collaborator's records, check for duplicates and prepare the entries. The team confirms each entry before it is added, which keeps the catalogue clean from the start.
Catalogue audits before a sale or deal
Before a catalogue is offered to a buyer, the owner needs to confirm that rights and documents are complete. They ask Claude to flag works with missing agreements, unclear splits or no recorded recordings. The output gives a clear checklist of gaps to close before due diligence begins.
An end-to-end workflow: Quarterly royalty reconciliation
TriggerThe end of each quarter, when the distributor's statement arrives by e-mail
The finance team forwards the statement to a shared mailbox and Claude reads the figures.
Claude matches each line to works and recordings in withPICA using the stored identifiers.
Claude flags lines that do not match an existing credit or split and lists them for review.
A rights administrator confirms or corrects the flagged items inside withPICA.
Claude generates the royalty summary by writer and territory for approval.
Approved summaries are saved to the shared finance folder in Microsoft 365 for payment processing.
OutcomeReconciliation that once took several days is typically completed in a fraction of the time, with fewer unmatched lines and a clear audit trail of who approved each change.
How we set it up
Free automation audit
We review your catalogue process, royalty cycle and the systems you already use, such as Microsoft 365 or your accounting software. We identify the workflows worth automating first, at no cost.
Secure connection with an API key
We set up the connection to withPICA using an API key, either through its MCP server or its direct API. The key is stored securely and granted only the permissions each workflow needs.
Workflow design and approvals
We design the end-to-end process across withPICA and your other systems. Every consequential action, such as changing a split or issuing an agreement, is assigned to a named approver.
Testing with real cases
We test the workflow against past royalty statements and real catalogue records. We check accuracy and adjust the logic until results match what your team expects.
Launch, monitoring and training
We launch with activity logs and monitoring in place, then train your team on how to make requests and review outputs. Support continues after launch so the workflow keeps working as your catalogue grows.
Who benefits
- Rights administrator
- Finds and fixes missing credits and split errors across large catalogues without manual searching.
- Finance lead
- Prepares royalty summaries faster, with clearer reconciliation against distributor statements.
- Artist or catalogue manager
- Drafts agreements and checks catalogue readiness before signings and deals.
- Operations or IT head
- Gets a controlled connection with limited permissions, activity logs and clear approval steps.
Security and control
- API keys are granted least-privilege permissions and can be revoked at any time.
- Changes to splits, agreements and payments require approval by a named person before they are saved.
- Activity logs record what Claude accessed and changed, supporting audit and review.
- Royalty figures are checked against source statements; Claude's drafts are never treated as final without review.
- Access can be restricted to specific catalogues, teams or time periods as your policy requires.
For teams in the US, UK, India and the Middle East
Organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom can host the workflow in the region that matches their data requirements. In India, handling of personal data follows the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and we design the connection to support it. For businesses in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, we align data handling with the applicable local data protection laws. Hosting region is chosen to meet your legal and contractual requirements.
Learn more about Claude and MCP
Anthropic's AI model and assistant.
Secure links between Claude and business tools.
How engineers build and change software with Claude.
Hosted agents that run multi-step work.
The open standard Claude uses to connect to tools.
Frequently asked questions
What does the withPICA MCP server do?
The withPICA MCP server is a connector that lets Claude and other AI tools work with the platform in plain language. It can help look up works, update credits, generate royalty reports and create agreements, within the permissions granted. It acts as a secure bridge, so Claude does not need direct access to the whole platform.
Is connecting withPICA to Claude secure?
Security depends on how the connection is set up. We use an API key with least-privilege permissions, restrict access to the catalogues and actions each workflow needs, and log all activity. Consequential changes can require human approval. We also review the setup against your data protection obligations before launch.
What can Claude do with withPICA once connected?
Typically, Claude can search works and recordings, review credits and collaborators, draft agreements, prepare royalty summaries and flag inconsistencies. The exact actions available depend on the permissions granted and the access withPICA provides. We agree the scope with you during the audit so nothing beyond it is enabled.
How long does setup take?
Setup time varies with the size of your catalogue and the number of systems involved. A focused workflow, such as royalty reconciliation, can often be designed, tested and launched in a few weeks. Larger, multi-system projects take longer. The free automation audit gives you a clearer timeline.
Which plan or permissions do I need?
You need a withPICA account that allows API access and an API key with permissions matched to the workflow. Requirements depend on the features your organisation uses and your account arrangement with withPICA. During the audit we confirm what your current setup supports and what you may need to add.