The MLC Holds Third Annual Membership Meeting: Announces Over $1.5B in Total Royalties Distributed to Date to Members

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) held its third Annual Membership Meeting last week, sharing key metrics from the last year and announcing the result of the Class B Board of Directors election and the selection of two songwriter Board Members. Two current members of The MLC Board of Directors will serve a second three-year term on the Board. Their initial terms were slated to end this month. Additionally, one new member was selected for a three-year term, filling a vacant songwriter seat. 

In the past two and a half years since launching full operations, The MLC has met every milestone set by Congress in the Music Modernization Act and successfully distributed over $1.5 billion in royalties. The MLC has also effectively illuminated the “black box” for digital audio mechanicals by giving members the ability to search all the unmatched data and propose matches for their works using The MLC’s Matching Tool. To date, The MLC has received and approved more than 1 million proposed matches submitted by members through the Matching Tool. The suite of member tools developed by The MLC are as effective for the smallest creator as they are for large publishers and administrators. Highlights shared during the meeting by members of The MLC’s leadership team included the following key metrics: 

• The MLC has distributed more than $1.5 billion in royalties. As of the September distribution, The MLC has directly distributed over $1.3 billion in blanket royalties and over $160 million in royalties (when valued at the statutory rates used by The MLC) processed by The MLC but paid by DSPs pursuant to voluntary licenses.
• The MLC’s current match rate for all royalties processed through October’s royalty distribution is 90 percent.
• The MLC now has more than 32,000 Members, having added more than 9,000 to date in 2023. 
• The MLC has more than 33 million works in its public database, with data for over 3 million new works added in 2023 alone.
• The MLC has completed 31 monthly royalty distributions to date, every one of which has been completed on time or early. 

“We are proud of these accomplishments, particularly in reaching the milestone of distributing over $1.5 billion in royalties,” says The MLC’s CEO, Kris Ahrend. “We have effectively illuminated the black box by empowering our members with several tools that enable them to take actions intended to eliminate the black box. We look forward to continuing our work to fulfill our mission of ensuring songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers receive their mechanical royalties from streaming & download services in the United States accurately and on time.”

During the meeting, the result of The MLC’s recent Class B Board Seat election was announced. Alisa Coleman was re-elected by The MLC’s Class B Members to serve on The MLC’s Board of Directors for a second three-year term. The MLC’s Class A Members selected Troy Verges to fill the open seat as a Songwriter Director of the Board, which was previously held by Craig Wiseman, whose initial term expired this year. Additionally, the Class A Members selected Kevin Kadish to serve a second three-year term as a Songwriter Director of the Board.

Finally, The MLC announced that the make-up of the Class C Members will not change in 2024. More information on The MLC’s Board of Directors and Advisory Committees can be found here.