The Mechanical Licensing Collective used its Annual Membership Meeting on September 29 to announce that it will begin monthly market share distributions of remaining unclaimed accrued royalties starting in April 2027. The process, mandated under the Music Modernization Act, will first address royalties from January 2021, the earliest month digital service providers reported usage under the blanket mechanical license The MLC administers.
Under the statute, The MLC must hold unmatched and unclaimed royalties for at least three years before distributing leftover funds based on rightsholders’ relative market shares. The organization said it will distribute one month of eligible 2021 usage royalties at a time, allocated on a song-based, pro rata basis separately for each DSP and offering, meaning it will spend more than six years attempting to match royalties for each usage month before that money is distributed via market share. The MLC has published details on a Market Share page and an Unclaimed Accrued Royalties Dashboard on its website.
The MLC also reported that it has distributed more than $4.2 billion in total royalties since launching, according to the announcement, and noted the U.S. Register of Copyrights has renewed its designation as the statutory mechanical licensing collective. Members re-selected Kevin Kadish and Troy Verges as Songwriter Directors and re-elected Alisa Coleman as a Publisher Director on The MLC’s board.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by The MLC, themlc.com.