As summer comes to a close, we’re looking ahead to a busy and productive fall at The MLC.
We begin this month’s newsletter with an important reminder about our Board of Directors election happening now. Then we highlight key metrics from this month’s royalty distribution, our latest enhancements to The MLC Portal, and our upcoming Annual Membership Meeting. We also share our Support Team’s modified hours for the Labor Day holiday.
If you’re a Class B Member, now is the time to cast your vote for the Class B publisher seat up for election this year. Ballots were sent on July 28 to eligible Class B Members in an email from eBallot; if you haven’t received yours, check your spam or junk folder. The election results will be announced during the Annual Membership Meeting on September 29, and the candidate receiving the most votes will be recommended to the U.S. Librarian of Congress for appointment to The MLC’s Board of Directors. The voting period will close at 11:59 p.m. CT on Tuesday, September 15.
The MLC completed its eighth royalty distribution of the year on August 14. August’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in May 2026. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $83.6 million.
Every month, our team attempts to match the newly reported sound recording uses we receive 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 over 82 percent of the total royalty pools reported to us by DSPs primarily for their May 2026 usage to songs registered in our database. After deducting $1.5 million in royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $82.1 million in royalties and distributed approximately $61.4 million to our Members.
We also continued to reprocess the remaining royalties from previous usage periods. As a result, we were able to distribute an additional $15.3 million in royalties from previously unmatched or unclaimed uses. (These are uses that we were able to match, through reprocessing, to data submitted to us after we completed the initial distribution cycle for that usage.) Thanks to reprocessing, our current average match rates for 2021 and 2022 now range between 93 and 95 percent, and our overall current match rate for all periods is now over 92 percent.
To learn more about our August 2026 distribution, click here:
We continued to process adjustments to blanket royalties for usage originally reported during the last two years of the Phono 3 rate period (i.e., 2021 and 2022). These adjustments primarily represent the difference between the royalties we initially processed for the usage periods from those two years at the Phono 2 rates and the royalties that are due at the final Phono 3 rates. In the August distribution, we processed blanket royalty adjustments for Apple’s June 2022 usage in the amount of $3.0 million. We intend to continue processing Apple’s remaining adjustments next month.
This month, we also continued to process adjustments for 2023 delivered to us by certain DSPs in connection with their Annual Reports of Usage (ARoU). In the August distribution, we processed blanket royalty adjustments for Apple’s Q1 2023 usage that reflected a total net overpayment of $3.8 million.
Also in the August distribution, we reprocessed adjustments to royalties originally reported in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and the resulting royalties totaled approximately $441k.
To the extent the royalties from these adjustments pertained to works in your catalog, you will see them identified on your statement by the category type ["Adjustments"], along with the names of the specific DSP for which the adjustment was made.
To read more about this month's blanket updates, including recent changes to DSPs operating under the blanket license, click here:
Starting in April 2024, we began initially processing matched historical royalties for the Phono 3 rate period in sets. For each set of royalties from a given DSP (or DSPs), we would first distribute matched historical royalties for previously unpaid uses reported by the DSP(s) concerned, then we would aim to distribute matched historical royalties for previously partially paid uses from the same DSP(s) the following month. We have now initially processed the historical royalties we received from every DSP except for FanLabel and Weav utilizing this two-step process. (We expect to initially process the historical royalties for FanLabel and Weav later this year.)
Although we have largely finished initially processing these historical royalties, we continue to reprocess the remaining historical royalties from all three rate periods. This reprocessing resulted in our distribution of an additional $957k in historical royalties this month, broken down as follows:
$2k in royalties for the Phono 1 rate period (2008-2012);
$128k in royalties for the Phono 2 rate period (2013-2017); and
$827k in royalties for the Phono 3 rate period (2018-2020).
We will continue to reprocess the remaining historical royalties in the coming months in order to distribute even more of these royalties. To read more about the historical royalties we have distributed so far, click here:
We’re excited to share our latest updates to The MLC Portal. Here’s what’s new this month.
Member Hub – Enhancements to the Overclaims Tool
The Overclaims Tool enables Members to view and resolve overclaims, which occur when the total ownership shares submitted by all Members for a registered work add up to more than 100%. This month, we’ve introduced two enhancements that will allow Members to manage overclaims more efficiently.
First, we’ve given Members the ability to resolve all overclaims and disputes — regardless of submission source or age of the work — in the Overclaims Tool. Previously, only overclaims on works created within the past 90 days could be resolved in the Overclaims Tool; works older than 90 days had to be handled manually by the Overclaims Team. Now, Members can take the steps to resolve any overclaim directly in the Overclaims Tool, allowing for quicker resolution.
We’ve also made it easier for Members to understand exactly what is needed to resolve outstanding overclaims. The Overclaims Tool shows Members their works that are in overclaim and allows them to upload supporting documentation to substantiate their claimed shares. If a submitted document is not accepted, the reason why appears in the Documents tab. Now, Members will also see what additional information is needed and a due date for submitting that information.
Songwriter Hub – Merge Multiple Writer Names Songwriter Hub users have a new way to keep their data organized. Users who have songs under more than one variation of their name (for example, with and without their middle name) can now submit a request to consolidate or “merge” the different versions of their name. Once the selected writer names are merged, the user’s preferred name will appear on all of their songs. To submit a request, navigate to the My Writer Names page in the Songwriter Hub, click the Request Update flag next to any version of your writer name, then select “Request to merge writer names” from the drop-down menu.
We hope you find these updates helpful! Stay tuned for more enhancements coming soon.
