It was great connecting with many of you at Songwriter Week in New York!
In this newsletter, we highlight key metrics from June’s royalty distribution, along with our latest enhancements to The MLC Portal. You’ll also find information about our annual Member survey (open now through June 30) and new episodes of our podcast.
But first, we’re excited to share an update on the U.S. Copyright Office’s continued designation of The MLC to serve as the statutory mechanical license collective established by the Music Modernization Act.
The Register of Copyrights (who leads the U.S. Copyright Office) has officially continued The MLC’s designation as the statutory collective responsible for administering the blanket compulsory mechanical license available to eligible streaming and download services in the U.S., which was established by the passage of the Music Modernization Act of 2018. This ruling brings to a successful close the Register’s first periodic review of The MLC’s initial five-year designation and reflects the Register’s conclusion that The MLC has effectively fulfilled its statutory responsibilities. We are thrilled with this outcome and grateful for the support we’ve received throughout the review process from stakeholders across the music industry. The MLC will continue to work closely with the U.S. Copyright Office, the members of our Board of Directors, our advisory committees, and the digital services that operate under the blanket compulsory license during our next designation period to help ensure that our Members continue to receive the mechanical royalties they’ve earned. For more information, view the press release here.
The MLC completed its sixth royalty distribution of the year on June 12. June’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in March 2026. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $91.5 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 83 percent of the total royalty pools reported to us by DSPs primarily for their March 2026 usage to songs registered in our database.
After deducting $1.6 million in royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $89.8 million in royalties and distributed approximately $67.7 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 $13.8 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 June 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 June distribution, we processed blanket royalty adjustments for Apple’s February 2021 usage in the amount of $2.3 million, and forDeezer’s 2021 and 2022 usage in the amount of $324k.
We discovered an issue that caused our system to incorrectly allocate the total amount of 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 began correcting the previously processed adjustments from those two DSPs in the June distribution. Specifically, we processed corrections to Apple's previously processed adjustments for January, March, April, May, and June 2021 usage. We anticipate continuing to process corrections to these previously processed adjustments in the coming months.
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 June distribution, we processed blanket royalty adjustments for Deezer that reflected a total net overpayment of $22k.
Also in the June distribution, we reprocessed adjustments to royalties originally reported in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and the resulting royalties totaled approximately $206k.
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. Currently, more than 50 DSPs operate under this blanket license. New DSPs may choose to obtain the blanket license by submitting a statutorily prescribed notice to The MLC. 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, the following DSPs have obtained the blanket license:
Ultralight FM, LLC obtained the blanket license on May 12 and indicated a launch date of July 1.
Bump Into Present, Inc. obtained the blanket license on May 18 and indicated a launch date of June 15.
No DSPs have voluntarily withdrawn their blanket license, nor has The MLC terminated any blanket licenses since our last newsletter.
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 $913k in historical royalties this month, broken down as follows:
$1k in royalties for the Phono 1 rate period (2008-2012);
$174k in royalties for the Phono 2 rate period (2013-2017); and
$738k 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.
New "Action Needed" Tab in Registration History
We’ve enhanced Registration History within the Member Hub with a new “Action Needed” tab, making it easier for Members to identify works needing their attention so they can keep their catalogs up to date. This new tab allows Members to quickly view registrations that have been flagged, make any necessary updates, and resubmit them directly.
New Search Filter for Matched Recordings
Finding and acting on unmatched recordings just got easier! Members can now filter their search results in both the Catalog Search and the Claiming Tool by matched recording status. This new filter allows Members to quickly view their works with matched recordings, or their works that have not yet been matched to recordings, making it easier to identify potential gaps and suggest matches.
We hope you find these updates helpful! Stay tuned for more enhancements coming soon.
As a valued Member of The MLC, your feedback is essential in helping us build the tools and resources that work best for you. We’ve created a brief survey to gather your input on how we can better serve you. The survey takes approximately 5-7 minutes to complete andis open now through Tuesday, June 30. Thank you for helping us make The MLC even better!
New episodes of our podcast, “Taking Care of Your Music Business,” are now available! Don’t miss the episode “Be Your Own CEO: Owning the Opportunity” featuring songwriter and artist Dawn Richard, alongside The MLC’s Jamie Dominguez. Join them as they explore the importance of diversifying your revenue streams, keeping your metadata accurate, and connecting with The MLC to collect streaming royalties you’ve earned.
