Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Annual Membership Meeting earlier this month! We were excited to share that The MLC has now achieved total royalties distributed of more than $3.3 billion and grown membership to over 68,000 Members. In this newsletter, you’ll find a recap of the meeting along with a link to watch the recording.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Annual Membership Meeting this month! We were excited to share that The MLC had achieved total royalties distributed of more than $3.3 billion and grown membership to more than 68,000 Members. In this newsletter, you’ll find a recap of the meeting along with a link to watch the recording.
As always, you’ll find the key metrics from this month’s royalty distribution, plus exciting updates on the launch of our new Songwriter Hub and the latest enhancements to the Overclaims Tool. We also offer a reminder about how The MLC empowers Members to turn transparency into action, and share details about our upcoming RegFest webinar.
The MLC completed its 10th royalty distribution of the year on October 14. October’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in July 2025. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $84 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 July 2025 usage to songs registered in our database.
After deducting royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $81.2 million in royalties and distributed approximately $61 million to our Members. To learn more about our October 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 October distribution, we distributed blanket royalty adjustments for 2021 and 2022 totaling $10.2 million.
At the same time, we continue to process adjustments for 2023 delivered to us by certain DSPs in connection with their Annual Reports of Usage (ARoU). In the October distribution, we distributed blanket royalty adjustments for 2023 that reflected a total net overpayment of $12.5 million.
The October distribution also included reprocessing adjustments for 2021, 2022, and 2023 in the amount of $540k.
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.
*YouTube’s ARoU adjustments for Q1 2023 (January to March 2023) have not yet been processed.
**Under the tentative adjustment schedule, we hope to process the majority of Spotify’s 2021 and 2022 adjustments before year end. Spotify’s 2023 adjustment will follow 2021 and 2022.
Be sure to check out our Blanket Royalties Dashboard, which offers a clear and up-to-date view of the blanket mechanical royalties reported to us by the DSPs that operate under the blanket license we administer. You’ll find cumulative data starting from January 2021, when The MLC first began administering these royalties. The dashboard has four tabs you can click through to see various breakdowns of the total royalty pools DSPs have reported to The MLC, including how much of the pools The MLC has collected, matched, distributed, and more. To see the dashboard, click 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 first set of Phono 3 historical royalties from Audiomack in the amount of $140k.
We also continued to reprocess the remaining unmatched historical royalties from previous distributions. This month’s distribution included newly matched historical royalties for uses that took place between 2007 and 2017 during the Phono 1 and 2 rate periods, and between 2018 and 2020 during the Phono 3 rate period. As a result of reprocessing these remaining unmatched historical usages, we were able to distribute approximately $1 million in additional historical royalties this month, plus interest, from a number of digital services.
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 share the launch of our new Songwriter Hub! Designed for songwriters whose songs are managed by a publisher or administrator, the Songwriter Hub gives songwriters more visibility into their song data with The MLC and tools to help them manage the writer data for the songs in their catalogs.
Within the Songwriter Hub, songwriters can organize and export their catalogs, explore co-writer connections, and submit correction requests for writer names or IPI numbers directly to The MLC. Songwriters can also use the Matching Tool to search for unmatched sound recording products that feature songs they've written, and then submit proposed matches of those products to songs in their catalog.
With this launch, you’ll also notice the term Member Hub appearing across our website and in communications like this newsletter. The Member Hub is simply the new name for the part of The MLC Portal you already know—where you manage your Member account, access Member tools to manage your catalog, and view your royalty statements.
To find out how songwriters can sign up, click here. And check out our new YouTube video to learn more!
We’re always looking for ways to make managing your catalog easier. That’s why we continue to enhance the Overclaims Tool, helping Members navigate the overclaims process more efficiently.
An overclaim occurs when the total ownership shares submitted by all Members for a registered work add up to more than 100%. The Overclaims Tool allows Members to view affected works and communicate directly with the other Members claiming shares to resolve the overclaim.
In August, we added a bulk document upload feature that allows Members to upload documentation supporting their claims of shares for multiple works at a time, as well as a bulk relinquishment feature that allows Members to relinquish previously claimed shares for multiple works at the same time. Now, we’ve added a bulk share amendment feature, giving Members the ability to update their share percentages across multiple works at once, rather than having to make the updates one song at a time.
Stay tuned for more updates and enhancements coming soon!
Since we began operations in January 2021, The MLC has made transparency a priority. We’re proud to provide rightsholders with unprecedented access to the data we have compiled for their works, whether it be through the Public Work Search on our website or via the Catalog Export Tool in your Member Hub account. And because DSPs cover all of The MLC’s operating costs, The MLC can offer you this access to your data completely free of charge.
We’ve also built a growing suite of easy-to-use tools that empower Members to search for and review their data, resolve any discrepancies they find, propose matches between recordings and their songs, and submit claims for missing shares of works registered by others. We’ve made it easier for Members to see, manage, and address certain conflicts and disputes involving other Members (through our Overclaims Tool), and we're about to launch a new tool that will help Members manage catalog transfers. In addition, our new Songwriter Hub now offers songwriters who have a publisher or administrator a suite of tools they can use to view and manage their data—again, completely free of charge.
Together, this combination of transparency and tools has enabled The MLC to achieve historically high match rates, while drastically reducing the amount of unmatched works in our database. Moreover, these tools have helped rightsholders prioritize their highest value works, ensuring they receive the highest possible return on the investment of time they take when using our tools. As a result, for 95% of the remaining unmatched sound recording resources in The MLC's database, the cumulative value of the mechanical royalties we have accrued for those resources since we began operations is less than $1, and the average cumulative value of the mechanical royalties we have accrued for each of those remaining unmatched resources is between 5 and 6 cents. But that’s only part of the story…
We’ve also increased transparency by offering unprecedented access to our data through our Bulk Data Access Subscription program and Public Search API. These programs—which complement the free access we provide to Members and songwriters—offer organizations and individuals unprecedented access to all of the musical works ownership data we have in our public database, all of the data for the sound recording resources DSPs have reported to us, and all of the matches we have made between those works and resources—all for only $25 a month.
Hundreds of companies are now using The MLC’s public data to support their own operations and to power new services. These new services can be especially valuable to rightsholders who are seeking unique insights into their own data or specialized support for their internal teams. The MLC encourages and supports this kind of innovation. We believe that third-party vendors play an important role in the market when they use our data to offer specialized services that provide added value to rightsholders.
But it’s important to understand exactly what these third-party services offer and the extent (if any) to which they complement the robust access and services The MLC already provides. It’s also important to be cautious of claims that suggest third-party services are the only way to identify and address issues. The MLC’s Member Tools already allow you to view, analyze, and action your data for free, so you don’t have to pay someone else for those services.
If you have any questions about how to get the most out of any of our free Member Tools, our Support Team is here to help.
We hope you were able to join us for our Annual Membership Meeting earlier this month. In case you missed it, here’s a look at some of the key metrics and milestones we shared. As of October 1:
The MLC had completed 54 monthly royalty distributions, all on time or early.
The MLC had processed more than $3.9 billion in total royalties and directly distributed more than $3.3 billion in blanket royalties to rightsholders.
The MLC had distributed more than $225 million in historical royalties—more than 57% of the total amount of historical unmatched royalties DSPs were unable to match and distribute before transferring them to The MLC.
The MLC had enrolled more than 68,000 Members, adding more than 18,000 in 2025.
The MLC had compiled data for more than 50 million works in its public database, with more than 6 million new works added in 2025.
The MLC’s match rate for all royalties processed through September’s royalty distribution was nearly 92 percent.
The MLC continues its extensive outreach and educational efforts aimed at reaching the full cross-section of the rightsholder community, with more than 1,000 events attended since its inception—including nearly 200 events in 2025 alone.
The MLC continues to enhance its growing suite of tools that enable Members to register works, claim their shares of previously registered works, submit proposed matches of their works to unmatched usage, and more.
The MLC also announced the re-selection of Kara DioGuardi as a Songwriter Director of the Board, the re-election of Tim Cohan as a Publisher Director of the Board, and the election of Lidia Kim as a Publisher Director of the Board.
Maximize your royalties and protect your rights at RegFest, a free webinar for songwriters, artists, producers, and rightsholders. On November 10, join award-winning songwriter and artist Cassandra Kubinski and The MLC’s Dae Bogan as they cover how to register your works and claim all your income streams.
