Happy spring! The arrival of 2026 marked the beginning of our sixth year of full operations. Since we began operations in 2021, we have enrolled more than 80,000 Members, compiled data for more than 53 million musical works, and achieved over $3.5 billion in total royalties distributed.

Thank you for taking the time to read our updates each quarter. We are grateful for your continued interest in The MLC.

The MLC completed 12 monthly royalty distributions in 2025, our fifth year of operations, and each of those distributions was completed on time or early. As the chart below shows, for the 12 monthly distributions in 2025, The MLC processed $943.1 million, directly distributed $742.3 million in royalties, and processed usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs valued at an additional $33.2 million — bringing our total royalties distributed during the year to $775.5 million. Our average initial match rate for those distributions was 85 percent, but thanks to reprocessing, our average current match rate for those distributions is now 90 percent.

Here are some additional metrics for the 12 royalty distributions we completed in 2025:

You can view the full Annual Royalty Recap here.

New episodes of our podcast are now available! Taking Care of Your Music Business features candid conversations with industry leaders and creatives, breaking down everything from streaming royalties and rights to practical insights for navigating today’s music landscape. Tune in to our latest episodes featuring:

• Rico Love on building a career, community, and creative legacy in music
• Prophet and Tammy Hurt on building power and protecting creators’ rights
• Brad Akin (FBMM) and Sean Glover (SoundExchange) on navigating royalty streams in the modern music economy
• Sacha Skarbek and Ben Parker on developing a CEO mindset as a songwriter

Listen here or watch on our YouTube channel.

The MLC has started developing the congressionally mandated process for distributing remaining unmatched and unclaimed blanket royalties, with the intent of beginning those distributions in early 2027. We plan to distribute one month of remaining blanket royalties each month, starting with the remaining royalties from January 2021 (the first month that DSPs reported royalties to The MLC according to the blanket license we administer). We will allocate the remaining royalties on a pro rata basis for each DSP and offering, using The MLC’s actual distribution data, and then distribute those royalties with interest calculated at the statutory rate. Every song that earned monthly royalties (whether initially or via reprocessing) will receive its pro rata share of the remaining royalties for that month.

There are several steps rightsholders can take to ensure they’re set up to receive all the royalties they’re entitled to. We encourage all rightsholders to log in to The MLC Portal regularly to make sure all of their songs are registered with The MLC; claim their shares of any songs that were initially registered by another Member; and review unmatched sound recordings and suggest matches to songs in their catalog. In addition, songwriters and those who work with songwriters can sign up to access our Songwriter Hub, where they can view and interact with their song data in The MLC’s database.

To learn more about the market share distribution process and our current plans, click here. 

Managing song data can feel complicated, but the Songwriter Hub makes it easier for songwriters and their teams to view, organize, and manage all of their songs in one place. In this webinar, we’ll walk you through the Songwriter Hub, showing how to review and organize song information, build and share a complete catalog, explore co-writer connections, and submit requests to correct or update song data, including unmatched recordings. Join us to see how the Songwriter Hub can help keep song catalogs accurate, organized, and up to date.

Wednesday, April 22

Noon ET | 11 a.m. CT | 9 a.m. PT

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