This month, our Member newsletter offers updates on our most recent royalty distribution and provides information about the publication of the Copyright Royalty Board’s final determination of the rates for the Phonorecords III rate period, which covered uses that took place between 2018 and 2022. What does this mean for you? In short, rightsholders are one step closer to receiving their final adjusted royalty payments for the uses of their songs that took place during that five-year period. Read on for more details, a reminder for Class B Voting Members, and a new addition to our Member Benefits offerings. Also be sure to check out our webinar calendar and event listing to see what we have planned for September. We have several industry events coming up, and we hope to see some of you in person!

We completed our eighth monthly royalty distribution of the year on August 14, bringing us to 29 total royalty distributions since we began full operations — all of which have been on time or early. August’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in May of 2023. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $88.9 million.

Every month our team attempts to match sound recording uses to the musical works data in our public database and then distributes the resulting matched royalties to our Members. This month, we were able to match more than 85 percent of the total royalty pools we administered to songs currently registered in our database.

After deducting royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $84.5 million in royalties and distributed approximately $62.6 million to our Members. To learn more about our August distribution, click here:

On August 10, the Copyright Royalty Board published the final rate determination for the Phonorecords III (Phono 3) rate period (2018-2022). This step in the process triggers the 6-month clock for DSPs to make retroactive adjustments based on the new rates and deliver the revised data and any additional royalties that may be due to The MLC. For details about what happens next, you can read more on our Historical Unmatched Royalties page here.

Voting began on August 14 for the one Publisher Director seat up for election this year. While the Librarian of Congress appoints all Directors, Class B Members (who consist of independent music publishers) have the ability to participate in a voting process to recommend candidates for Director seats that represent them. Ballots went out to Class B Members via email from Votenet Solutions/eBallot. If you have any questions about this process, please contact legal@themlc.com. The voting period ends on September 29, and the result will be announced at our Annual Meeting this fall.

The MLC has partnered with Mondo to arrange a discounted registration rate for our Members. Take advantage of a 25% discount code using the promo code “mlcmondo25” when you buy your tickets here. We hope to see you in NYC in October!

September 14-17: Annapolis Songwriters Festival

September 19-23: AmericanaFest

September 21-24: Mississippi Songwriters Festival

September 26-30: IBMA World of Bluegrass

September 28-30: A3C Festival and Conference

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