The MLC completed our tenth distribution of the year, and 19th overall, on time on Friday, October 14th. This month's distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in July of 2022. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was slightly more than $63.8 million. We were able to match 85 percent of that amount to songs currently registered in our database. (Our current match rate for all periods through last month’s distribution has now surpassed 89 percent.) After deducting royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $61.1 million in royalties and distributed almost $45.5 million to our Members.
The remaining royalties still pending distribution break down as follows:
- $9.5 million in royalties for uses we have not been able to match to registered works;
- $5.6 million in royalties for shares of matched works that have not yet been registered (or claimed) by our Members; and
- $469k in matched royalties that are on hold.
In addition, The MLC also distributed another $4.4 million in blanket royalties from previously unmatched or unclaimed uses that we were able to match — through reprocessing — to data submitted to us after we completed the initial distribution cycle for that usage.
This month, we distributed approximately $208k in newly matched historical royalties from Spotify and the other DSPs we have previously begun to distribute. The amount of matched royalties we distributed does not include any amounts that were matched to works owned by rightsholders who were identified as parties to a previous settlement with Spotify. To catch up on the progress we’ve shared about historical unmatched royalties so far, you can find all the updates here.