Frequently Asked Questions

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office according to the historic Music Modernization Act of 2018. In January 2021, The MLC began administering blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services (digital service providers or DSPs) in the United States. The MLC collects the royalties due under those licenses from the DSPs and pays songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers.

The MLC has built a publicly accessible musical works database, as well a portal that creators and music publishers can use to submit and maintain their musical works data. These tools help ensure that creators and music publishers are paid properly.

The MLC's musical works data is publicly available in bulk and can therefore be copied and incorporated into other industry databases. For more information on the Bulk Data Access Subscription, click here.

No, The MLC’s Public Works Search allows anyone to see the musical works data we have compiled, regardless of whether they are registered users of The MLC Portal.

No, you do not need to affiliate with the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) in order to receive mechanical royalties from The MLC.

Yes. Historical unmatched royalties are digital mechanical royalties related to uses of musical works by DSPs prior to January 1, 2021, which is the date the new blanket license went into effect. Some DSPs used an option given to them by the Music Modernization Act to transfer usage data and associated unpaid royalties to The MLC, so that we could attempt to match the data to works in our database and pay rightsholders. Click here to visit our dedicated Historical Unmatched Royalties page for more information.

Unmatched or unclaimed royalties, from usage occurring on or after January 1, 2021, will be held for a minimum of 3 years so we can work to find and pay the rightful owner. Any interest accrued during that time will be passed along to the rightsholders. When The MLC does eventually exhaust its efforts to find and pay the rightful owner, The MLC will distribute the remaining unmatched or unclaimed royalties to music publishers and self-administered songwriters using a market share/activity-based formula.

No, The MLC does not keep a portion of the mechanical royalties it collects to cover its operating costs. The operational costs of The MLC are paid for by DSPs through an administrative assessment set by the United States Copyright Royalty Board. The MLC distributes 100% of the mechanical royalties it collects.

Our headquarters is in Nashville, and we also have team members based in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and London. We will strive to reach the music publishers, administrators, and self-administered songwriters, composers and lyricists we serve wherever they are located.

Record companies will still need to secure mechanical licenses and pay mechanical royalties for mechanical uses of musical works in physical products, like CDs and vinyl records. Under the U.S. copyright law, the blanket licenses The MLC is administering can include permanent download use, but the DSPs also have the option to continue to rely on record companies to provide those licenses and pay those royalties via what is called a pass-through license.

The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) is a separate company from The MLC, that provides a variety of services to The MLC as a vendor. The services include assisting with musical works and member data management, the matching of digital uses of sound recordings to musical works, and royalty processing.

The MLC will not resolve disputes over copyright ownership. Pursuant to the MMA, The MLC has a policy for placing royalties on hold when a substantiated dispute has been raised, but the parties to the dispute, or the courts, will decide questions of ownership, not The MLC. To view The MLC's Dispute Policy, click here.

The royalties that The MLC collects from digital service providers (DSPs) and distributes to Members are calculated using the statutory royalty rates. The rates vary depending on how the sound recording of the musical work (song) is distributed. For example, the rate is different for permanent downloads (where the rate is a fixed amount per sale) and various types of interactive streaming offerings (where the rate is a formula that results in an amount per play). We have created two documents and a short video to help our Members and others understand the rates. Click here to view the documents and video.

The MLC is engaged in many different outreach activities. These include working with music industry organizations to get the word out to their members in newsletters, webinars, and social media posts; holding information sessions at music industry conferences; advertising and securing editorial coverage in music-focused online and print publications; working with companies who provide goods or services to music publishers and songwriters, composers and lyricists; and providing educational content to organizations dedicated to teaching music publishing to songwriters, composers and lyricists and future music industry professionals.

If you represent an organization that would like to explore ways to work with us, please contact us at marketinginfo@themlc.com.