As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, we want to express our gratitude for your continued support and partnership throughout the year.

In this newsletter, we share key metrics from November’s royalty distribution, along with details on the latest addition to our growing suite of Member tools — the Catalog Transfer Tool. We also offer an important reminder to make sure your banking and tax information is up to date. 

Please note that our Support Team will have abbreviated hours during the holiday season, beginning Thanksgiving week. You’ll find the full schedule at the end of this newsletter.

The MLC completed its 11^th royalty distribution of the year on November 14. November’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in August 2025. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $77.6 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 more than 84 percent of the total royalty pools reported to us by DSPs for their August 2025 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 $76 million in royalties and distributed approximately $57.1 million to our Members. To learn more about our November 2025 distribution, click here:

We continue 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 November distribution, we processed blanket royalty adjustments for Spotify (January to September 2021) totaling $23.8 million.

The November distribution also included reprocessing adjustments for 2021, 2022, and 2023 in the amount of $241k.

To the extent any of 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 view 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 Dashboard here.

Since April 2024, we have been distributing matched historical royalties for usage that took place during the Phono 3 rate period in sets. For each set of royalties from a given DSP (or DSPs), we first distribute matched historical royalties for previously unpaid uses reported by the DSP(s) concerned, then we aim to distribute matched historical royalties for previously partially paid uses from the same DSP(s) the following month. This month, we distributed the second set of Phono 3 historical royalties from Audiomack in the amount of $136k.

Overall, The MLC has been able to match and distribute more than $228 million — or nearly 58 percent — of the $397 million in previously unmatched historical royalties that DSPs transferred to us in 2021. To read more about the historical royalties we have distributed so far, click here:

We’re excited to introduce the Catalog Transfer Tool, the latest addition to our suite of Member tools. Sometimes, Members may need to acquire or relinquish rights to collect royalties for a collection of musical works, which is referred to as a "catalog transfer." This new tool allows Members to facilitate and manage catalog transfers directly within the Member Hub of The MLC Portal.

Previously, Members submitted catalog transfers through a manual form. Now, the Catalog Transfer Tool streamlines the process, allowing Members to easily transfer catalogs between publishers, submit all required information and documentation, and view a dashboard of submitted requests and track their status — all in one place.

We hope you find this new tool helpful! Keep an eye out for more enhancements coming soon.

Have you heard about our new Songwriter Hub yet? Designed for songwriters with a publisher or administrator, the Songwriter Hub provides an easy way for songwriters to view, organize, and manage their song data with The MLC.

Using the Catalog Builder, songwriters can search all the ways their name appears in The MLC’s database and compile a complete list (aka catalog) of their songs. Once the catalog is built, it can be downloaded on demand in an Excel-compatible file using the Catalog Export Tool. This gives writers a clear view of the data we have for their songs and makes it simple to share their full catalog with their publisher or administrator so they can make sure all of their songs are accounted for.

In addition, songwriters can easily explore co-writer connections; submit correction requests for writer names or IPI numbers; and use the Matching Tool to search unmatched sound recordings and suggest matches to songs in their catalog.

The Songwriter Hub also supports Members of The MLC who self-administer some songs, but have a publisher or administer managing others. It offers visibility into those published works, and tools to help keep their catalog accurate and organized. To find out how songwriters can sign up, click here. 

With the new year approaching, now is a great time to log in to The MLC Portal and review your banking information and tax forms to make sure everything is up to date. It’s important to make any needed updates to ensure you receive your tax documents from us in 2026.

If you need a refresher on how to review and update your information in the Member Hub, check out our Help Center article here. You can also watch a short tutorial video with a step-by-step walkthrough here.

Please note that the Banking and Tax tab is unavailable each month from the 3^rd – 14^th during distribution processing. It reopens on the 15^th of every month.

Please note our Support Team will have abbreviated holiday hours:

November 24 & 25: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT 

November 26: 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. CT 

November 27 & 28: Closed 

December 11: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT

December 22: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT

December 23: 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. CT

December 24 – January 2: Closed

© 2025 Mechanical Licensing Collective. All rights reserved.