The Mechanical Licensing Collective Announces Kris Ahrend as CEO | Mechanical Licensing Collective

Respected Industry Executive Approved by Board to Run MLC in Nashville

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) today announced respected industry executive Kris Ahrend will serve as the organization’s CEO. Ahrend will begin his tenure with the MLC effective immediately.

MLC Board Chair Alisa Coleman said, “Kris was selected by our Board after a months-long competitive process; both his background and vision stood out amongst many qualified candidates. The unique combination of his experience with license administration, his tenure as a business and legal affairs executive in the music industry, and his most recent involvement in leading the design and operation of a large client service organization makes him well-suited to operate the MLC. He has spent his career making sure artists and songwriters get paid, and the Board is thrilled to have found someone whose passion and expertise align so well with the mission of the MLC.”

MLC CEO Kris Ahrend added, “Nothing could be more exciting than leading a company that helps ensure songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers receive the money they deserve from digital service providers and offers them new tools to take control of their careers. We will provide songwriters and publishers unprecedented transparency, rights, and the ability to claim what is theirs. Through the MLC, we are committed to improving the system for everyone.”

A graduate of Binghamton University and the Washington & Lee School of Law, Ahrend worked as a law clerk for the Western District of the Virginia District Court and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals before joining the Intellectual Property & Litigation Group of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP in New York. Ahrend began his career in the music industry working in the Law Department at Sony Music, where he provided legal services to all of Sony’s US divisions, including its publishing company.  He subsequently worked in the business and legal affairs department at Sony BMG Music Entertainment before accepting a senior executive role at Rhino Entertainment.

In 2013, Ahrend left Rhino to assume a senior executive role within Warner Music Group, where he led a large legal, financial, and administrative shared services organization that he helped to create. In 2016, Ahrend was promoted to President of U.S. Shared Services and tapped to lead the development and launch of Warner Music’s new Center of Excellence for Shared Services in Nashville, where he oversaw the operations of fifteen different functional teams providing a variety of administrative, financial, and legal services to Warner Music’s U.S.-based publishing teams, record labels, and corporate divisions.

Ahrend is a valued member of the Nashville community. He serves on the boards of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Downtown Partnership, and is a member of the Music City Music Council. A lifelong musician, Ahrend and his wife, Karen, have two children and live in Nashville.

For more information about the MLC, visit www.TheMLC.com. 

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About The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC): The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) was designated by the U.S. Register of Copyrights in July 2019 pursuant to the Music Modernization Act of 2018.  The MLC is responsible for administering the new blanket compulsory license for the use of musical works by digital music services.  Starting in January 2021, mechanical royalties from streaming in the U.S. will be processed and paid out by the MLC at no cost to songwriters or music publishers.

The MLC is governed by a Board of Directors composed of songwriters and representatives of music publishers.  For more background on the MLC and its Board and Committee members, go to www.TheMLC.com.