It’s hard to believe we’ve begun our third year of operations! Today, we are excited to share that our cumulative total royalties distributed (from all distributions including February 2023) has now surpassed $1 billion in total royalties distributed ($945.9 million in blanket royalties and another $137.1 million in voluntary royalties). We are grateful for the part you’ve played to help us reach this significant milestone, starting with taking the time to sign up and become a Member and then using our suite of Member Tools to register your songs, claim your shares of songs others have registered and help us identify missing matches for your songs. And don’t forget, everything The MLC does is completely free to you, because DSPs pay all of our operating costs!

This month, in addition to providing our regular summary of February’s monthly distribution, we will also share an annual recap of all our 2022 royalty distributions, as well as updated cumulative statistics for our 2021 distributions. This recap highlights the fact that we continue to achieve historically high match rates, which has allowed us to distribute more digital audio mechanicals than ever before to you our Members. We’ll also discuss how The MLC is illuminating — and eliminating — the “black box” for digital audio mechanicals. Finally, we've included an update on our progress processing historical unmatched royalties and the latest timeline showing what happens once the CRB issues a final rate determination setting out the rates for the Phono 3 period (2018 to 2022).

As always, we appreciate you taking the time to read our Member newsletter each month. This newsletter is one of the primary ways that we communicate with you, and it continues to be the most accurate source of information about The MLC, along with our website and our official social media channels.

We completed our second monthly royalty distribution of the year on Monday, February 13, bringing us to 23 total royalty distributions since we began full operations. February's distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in November of 2022. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $61.5 million. Once again, we were able to match nearly 85 percent of that amount to songs currently registered in our database.

After deducting royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $58.6 million in royalties and distributed over $42.9 million to our Members. To learn more about our February distribution and the historical unmatched data available in The MLC Portal, click here:

We completed 12 monthly royalty distributions in 2022 — our second year of operations — and each was completed on time or early. Our initial match rate for the year averaged nearly 85 percent but thanks to reprocessing, our average current match rate for the year rose to more than 89 percent. For the 12 months of usage processed in 2022, The MLC directly distributed more than $532.3 million in royalties to our Members and we processed usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs valued at an additional $48 million, bringing our total royalties distributed for the year to roughly $580.3 million.

Here are some additional annual metrics for the 12 royalty distributions we completed in 2022 as of this month’s distribution:

To see more about the cumulative metrics for both our 2021 and 2022 distributions, to learn how The MLC is illuminating – and eliminating - the “black box” for digital audio mechanicals and to see an update on our progress processing historical unmatched royalties, as well as the latest on the status of the rates for the Phono 3 period, please check out our full 2022 Annual Royalty Recap.

Here are a few highlights from the recap:

Metrics Show The MLC Has Made Things Better

Look at the historically high match rates The MLC has achieved and a comparison of the percentage of royalties distributed before and after the blanket license took effect. Click to read more →

The MLC Is Illuminating the "Black Box!"

Learn how The MLC is illuminating — and eliminating — the royalty “black box."

Click to read more →

Awaiting Phono 3 Final Rate Determination; The MLC Prepares for Next Steps

The MLC continues to prepare for the announcement of the Phono 3 rates. Here’s what to expect once a final determination is issued. Click to read more →

The MLC is Completely FREE to Members!

One of the best things about The MLC is that we provide all of our services free of charge to our Members.

Click to read more →

February 27-March 3, Church Music Publishers Association Conference
March 10-19, SXSW
March 19-21, MUSEXPO
March 23-25, MEIEA Annual Conference
March 28, Memphis Music Biz Roadshow

The Member Tools Webinar Series Continues!

Join us for this week's webinar and learn how the Claiming Tool can help you collect all your streaming royalties.

Our Support Team is Here for You!

Email: Start here

Call: 615-488-3653

Chat: In the Portal