Why was The MLC created?

The Mechanical Licensing Collective was established by the Music Modernization Act of 2018 (MMA). This historic legislation sought to create a more efficient and effective way for digital service providers (DSPs) to license the music they make available on their platforms and ensure the proper rightsholders – self-administered songwriters, composers, and lyricists and music publishers and administrators – were paid the mechanical royalties they are entitled for the use of their musical works.

The MMA created a new blanket compulsory mechanical license that DSPs can secure to cover the use of all the music they make available on their platforms, as well as a new organization – The MLC – to exclusively administer the blanket license, collect royalties from DSPs due under those licenses and distribute those royalties to rightsholders. Per the MMA, The MLC also built and maintains both a publicly accessible musical works database and a portal that MLC Members use to register, maintain, and update their musical works data.