We hope you’re all having a great summer! In this newsletter, we highlight key metrics from July’s royalty distribution, along with our new Unclaimed Accrued Royalties Dashboard — which we’ve launched in advance of the market share distribution process beginning in 2027 — and our latest enhancements to The MLC Portal. We also provide information on our Class B Board of Directors election, announce the date of our 2026 Annual Membership Meeting, and share a festive new episode of our podcast.
The MLC completed its seventh royalty distribution of the year on July 14. July’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in April 2026. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $86.8 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 nearly 83 percent of the total royalty pools reported to us by DSPs primarily for their April 2026 usage to songs registered in our database. After deducting $1.7 million in royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $85.1 million in royalties and distributed approximately $63.6 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 $9.2 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 July 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 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 July distribution, we processed blanket royalty adjustments for Apple’s January to May 2022 usage in the amount of $12.1 million, and for Trebel’s 2021 and 2022 usage in the amount of $137k.
As we shared with you in last month’s newsletter, we recently discovered an issue that caused our system to incorrectly allocate the total amount of Phono 3 adjustments reported by Spotify and Apple among the individual offerings reported by each service. While this issue did not impact the total amount of adjustments we previously processed for each DSP, it did result in some overpayments and underpayments to individual Members when we processed the impacted adjustments. We have since corrected the issue on a prospective basis, and we corrected the previously processed adjustments for Apple in the June distribution. We are currently working to correct Spotify's previously processed adjustments and will provide an update once those corrections have been processed.
Also in the July distribution, we reprocessed adjustments to royalties originally reported in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and the resulting royalties totaled approximately $373k.
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.
Here is a tentative schedule showing when we are planning to process the remaining adjustments for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
For a clear, up-to-date overview of blanket mechanical royalties reported to us by DSPs that operate under the blanket license we administer — including breakdowns of amounts collected, matched, distributed, and more — check out our Blanket Royalties Dashboardhere.
Update on DSPs Operating Under The Blanket License
The blanket compulsory license The MLC administers is available to eligible DSPs to cover the eligible services they operate in the United States. New DSPs may choose to obtain the blanket license by submitting a statutorily prescribed notice to The MLC. The following DSP recently obtained the blanket license:
Rejoice Holdings, Inc. obtained the blanket license on May 13 and indicated a launch date of July 1.
Existing blanket licensees may choose to stop operating under the blanket license by submitting a voluntary withdrawal, and The MLC can terminate the blanket license for an existing licensee if the DSP fails to comply with the statutory and regulatory terms applicable to blanket licensees. Since our last newsletter, no DSPs have voluntarily withdrawn their blanket license, nor has The MLC terminated any blanket licenses.
You can find more information by searching for each DSP’s Notice of License 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 $615k in historical royalties this month, broken down as follows:
$1kin royalties for the Phono 1 rate period (2008-2012);
$70kin royalties for the Phono 2 rate period (2013-2017); and
$544k 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:
At the beginning of this year, we shared plans to begin distributing the remaining unclaimed accrued blanket royalties from usage that took place in 2021 via the market share distribution process in 2027. As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, we’ve launched a new Unclaimed Accrued Royalties Dashboard, which offers a detailed look at the currently remaining unclaimed accrued royalties associated with 2021 usage.
This dashboard shows current data for each month of usage originally reported to The MLC in 2021, including the total royalty pools reported by DSPs, the current total amounts distributed or in dispute, and the current remaining unclaimed accrued royalties from each month’s usage.
The dashboard also provides a further breakdown of the remaining unclaimed accrued royalties into three categories: unmatched royalties, unclaimed royalties, and other royalties that have not yet been distributed. Together, this information provides greater transparency into The MLC’s ongoing efforts to distribute these remaining unclaimed accrued royalties up to the point at which they may be included in market share distributions.
This month, we're introducing enhancements to The MLC Portal that make it easier to review important information, take action on items that need attention, and identify potential matches.
Improved Dashboard in Member Hub
We've made improvements to the dashboard on the Summary page in the Member Hub, with a greater focus on highlighting items that may require attention. The new Action Needed section provides clearer visibility into recommended priorities, helping Members take action to keep catalog information current and complete.
New First Usage Filter in the Matching Tool
The Matching Tool now allows sound recording searches to be filtered by usage date, helping refine search results and identify potential matches more efficiently. This enhancement makes it possible to focus on unmatched usage associated with songs from specific usage periods and will be especially valuable as the market share distribution process approaches in 2027, enabling more targeted matching efforts.
We hope you find these updates helpful! Stay tuned for more enhancements coming soon.
The MLC’s annual election for its Board of Directors has begun and will continue through Tuesday, September 15. Ballots will be sent to eligible Class B Members in an email from eBallot. One Class B publisher seat is up for election, for a three-year term beginning after The MLC’s 2026 Annual Membership Meeting. 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. Election results will be announced during the Annual Membership Meeting this fall.
New episodes of our podcast, “Taking Care of Your Music Business,” are now available! Don’t miss the episode “Christmas in July: Unwrapping the Music Business” featuring songwriter Shane Stevens and artist Tekitha Washington, alongside The MLC’s Jamie Dominguez.
Join them at Nashville’s famed Santa’s Pub as they unpack the realities of building a sustainable music career, navigating the different types of publishing deals, the role of performing rights organizations, and why split sheets and catalog ownership matter more than you might think. They also get honest about protecting your mental health and creative energy against the pressure of the "9-to-5" songwriting grind. Tune in for practical advice to help you take care of your music business.
