It’s been great to see so many of you at industry events over the past few months! In this Quarter Note, we are excited to share some recent milestones, plus reminders about our educational videos and our podcast.
It’s been great to see so many of you at industry events over the past few months! In this Quarter Note, we are excited to share some recent milestones, plus reminders about our educational videos and our podcast.
Thank you for taking the time to read our quarterly updates. We are grateful for your support and appreciate all the ways you help to spread the word about The MLC.
As of the June distribution, The MLC has distributed more than $223 million — or more than 56 percent — of the approximately $397 million in previously unmatched historical royalties that DSPs transferred to us in 2021. The following graphic shows the total amount of historical royalties that we have been able to distribute so far, broken down by rate period.
These percentages will continue to improve as we process the remaining unmatched historical royalties from the Phono 3 rate period while continuing to reprocess the remaining royalties from all three rate periods.
You can track the progress we’ve made so far distributing historical unmatched royalties by accessing our dynamic historical royalties dashboard.
Our Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP)continues to expand its global impact, offering a powerful solution for independent music distributors to help their customers — many of whom are also musical works rightsholders — claim their share of unmatched royalties. Since its launch, the DURP has grown to more than 110 distributor partners, serving customers in more than 20 countries. This milestone highlights the global reach of the DURP initiative and The MLC’s commitment to serving and empowering rightsholders worldwide, ensuring that creators whose songs are available in the U.S. market receive their digital audio mechanical royalties accurately and on time.
The DURP provides a highly efficient and effective way to identify independent, self-administered songwriters who are not yet receiving their U.S. mechanical streaming royalties. Distributor partners receive access to a subset of our public data that pertains specifically to sound recordings they have distributed. This allows them to easily identify their customers who own those recordings and who may also be entitled to receive a share of the unmatched mechanical royalties that have accrued for the songs embodied in those recordings. Participating distributors can then notify their customers about the unclaimed royalties associated with their sound recordings and either encourage them to join and register with The MLC or, if offering publishing administration services, offer additional services to their customers to collect those royalties on their behalf. To learn more about the DURP, or request access, click here.
Understanding digital music royalties can be complex — but we’re here to help! Our YouTube channel offers a range of educational videos designed to help rightsholders navigate the digital music landscape with confidence. Check out all of our educational videos — including our new video for international rightsholders and an on-demand webinar focused on helping creators build lasting financial success — and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any new content!
All episodes from season one of our podcast, “Taking Care of Your Music Business," are now available! Designed to educate and empower creators at every stage of their careers, each of season one’s seven episodes explore how royalties are earned and accessed, while offering practical tools to help creators succeed in an ever-evolving industry. Listen here or watch on our YouTube channel and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes!
