We hope you all are enjoying your summer! In our July Member newsletter, we share the key metrics from this month’s royalty distribution, an update about the field hearing we participated in last month, and our 2022 Annual Report. Be sure to check out our webinar calendar to see what we have planned for August!

We completed our seventh monthly royalty distribution of the year on July 14, bringing us to 28 total royalty distributions since we began full operations — all of which have been on time or early. July’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in April of 2023. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $88.1 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 86 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 $84.1 million in royalties and distributed approximately $63.3 million to our Members. To learn more about our July distribution, click here:

In June, CEO Kris Ahrend, testified in Nashville before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, at a field hearing entitled “Five Years Later — The Music Modernization Act.” In addition to answering questions about The MLC’s work from the Committee members in attendance, Kris provided an update on The MLC’s operations, including the growth to more than 28 thousand rightsholder members and the distribution of more than $1 billion in royalties to date. The MLC is grateful for the Subcommittee’s time and for the participation of all the stakeholders who testified, to address the work of The MLC and all those across the industry working to ensure that rightsholders receive the royalties they are due under the blanket mechanical license. To read Kris’s full written statement, click here.

The MLC’s 2022 Annual Report is now available on our website. The report offers a look into our second full year of operations, key performance metrics from 2022, a financial summary and more.

In case you missed it, we are currently accepting suggestions of songwriter candidates for our Board of Directors and Unclaimed Royalties Oversight and Dispute Resolution committees. To suggest a candidate for a songwriter representative seat to The MLC’s Board or committees, please complete the suggestion form available here by July 31. You can read more about the open positions here.

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