Welcome to the October edition of The MLC Member newsletter. There is so much to cover this month, so let’s jump right in and get started!
We’re excited to share that we completed our seventh royalty distribution right on schedule on October 14, and distributed more than $37 million in royalties to our Members from newly-reported streaming and download usage during July – our highest monthly distribution yet!
It also marked the fourth consecutive month that total royalties paid to Members exceeded $30 million.
The total of all royalty pools reported by DSPs to The MLC for this cycle was just over $59 million, and we were able to match just under 84 percent of that amount to songs registered in our database – our highest initial match rate yet. After deducting the activity covered by voluntary licenses between our Members and DSPs, we collected $52.8 million in royalties and distributed $37.1 million to our Members. The remaining royalties still pending distribution break down as follows:
$9.6 million in royalties for uses we have not been able to match to registered works;
$5.7 million in royalties for shares of matched works that have not yet been registered (or claimed) by our Members; and
$346k in matched royalties that are on legal hold.
In addition to the royalties we distributed for newly-reported usage from July, we also distributed more than $5 million in royalties that were related to usage initially reported to The MLC in previous months that we then “reprocessed” this month against the ownership data we currently have in our database. In the next section, we’ll explain more about reprocessing, why it is important, and how it impacts your royalty payments.
“Reprocessing” is the term we use to describe when we take unpaid DSP usage data from prior distribution periods and process it again using our most recent set of musical works data. We do this every month to try and find new matches, and to make sure you receive all the royalties you are owed for any new songs you’ve registered with The MLC and any updates you’ve made to your existing registrations. In short, reprocessing ensures that you receive all the royalties you are entitled to receive for uses of your songs! Click the button below to read more about Reprocessing and learn how much it has increased our match rates for prior periods!
We are pleased to announce that The MLC’s new Matching Tool is now available to Members through their accounts in The MLC Portal!
The Matching Tool provides Members with a way to search the sound recording usage data we have received from DSPs that has not yet been matched to a musical work in our database – and then propose matches to works they have previously registered. This tool gives Members an easy way to find unmatched royalties for their songs – and get paid. Its launch fulfills the first portion of a key provision in the Music Modernization Act, requiring The MLC to: “maintain a publicly accessible online facility...that lists unmatched musical works (and shares of works), through which a copyright owner may assert an ownership claim with respect to such a work (and a share of such a work).” Next month, we'll share more information about our new Claiming Tool, which will allow Members to search for unclaimed shares of registered works.
The MLC is preparing to start distributing a monthly list of the top 1,000 unmatched sound recording uses based on their calculated royalty value, which will provide Members with another way to search our unmatched data and look for uses of their works.
This list will be compiled in an Excel spreadsheet, and it will be made available to Members each month via email through a one-time sign up process. You can sign up to receive the reports here. The MLC is also developing an option that will enable Members to directly download the list through The MLC Portal, and we will update you when that option is ready for use. Either approach will offer our Members a quick and easy way to review all of the top unmatched sound recordings strictly by value and identify any uses that feature their musical works.
Save the Date – The MLC’s Annual Membership Meeting
November 10 from 1:30 – 3 p.m. CT
The Membership Meeting is your chance to hear directly from The MLC on a variety of topics and spend some time looking ahead to what we have planned for 2022.
The Support Team is available Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.CT. Please note that The MLC Support Team will have abbreviated hours during the week of Thanksgiving.
