The MLC completed our first distribution of the year on time on Friday, January 13, bringing us to 22 total royalty distributions. January’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in October of 2022. This cycle, the total of all royalties collected was approximately $62 million and the total royalty pools reported to The MLC was approximately $64.7 million, our highest monthly totals yet!
We were able to match nearly 85 percent of that amount to songs currently registered in our database. Thanks to reprocessing, our current match rate for all periods through last month’s distribution has now surpassed 89 percent, and our current average match rate for all the usage we initially processed in 2021 is now above 90 percent.
After deducting royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $62 million in royalties and distributed over $45.3 million to our Members.
The remaining royalties still pending distribution break down as follows:
- $10 million in royalties for uses we have not been able to match to registered works;
- $5.9 million in royalties for shares of matched works that have not yet been registered (or claimed) by our Members; and
- $800k in matched royalties that are on hold.
In addition, The MLC also distributed another $4.7 million in blanket royalties from previously unmatched or unclaimed uses that we were able to match — through reprocessing — to data submitted to us after we completed the initial distribution cycle for that usage.
Historical Unmatched Royalties
This month, we distributed approximately $85.3k in newly matched historical royalties from Spotify and the other DSPs we have previously begun to distribute. The amount of matched royalties we distributed does not include any amounts that were matched to works owned by rightsholders who were identified as parties to a previous settlements or agreements with Spotify.
These historical royalties are identified separately on the royalty statements we provide to Members, and we specify the usage month for these historical royalties just like we already do for blanket royalties. To catch up on the progress we’ve shared about historical unmatched royalties so far, you can find all the updates here:
