Resources for lawyers

*The materials on this page and included within our Lawyer Toolkit were prepared by our Educational Partnerships team and are provided to assist members of the legal and music publishing community in finding answers to their most common questions regarding The MLC. The purpose of these materials is to provide general information about The MLC and is not intended to provide legal advice, and nothing contained within the materials should be construed as legal advice.

Lawyer Toolkit

We have created a package of information for lawyers who advise musical works rightsholders (such as music publishers, songwriters, composers, and lyricists). The toolkit features a PDF document that explains the roles and responsibilities related to mechanical licensing and royalties, becoming a Member of The MLC, The MLC’s royalty distributions timeline, catalog transfers, The MLC’s Member tools, and other topics. Click here to download the Lawyer Toolkit (Version 4).

Helpful Links

The following areas of our website are mentioned in the toolkit. Links are provided below to make it even easier to find these pages:

Becoming a Member of The MLC

Ex-U.S. CMOs that are Members of The MLC

The MLC’s Member Tools

Missing Member Lookup

Blanket Royalties

Historical Unmatched Royalties

The Copyright Royalty Board

Rates

Digital Royalties Landscape diagram

Catalog Transfers

Policies (Ownership Disputes, Statutory Terminations)

DSP Notices

DSP Resources

Contact our Support Team

Explainer Videos

We have created short explainer videos, and longer deep-dive videos, to help you and your clients learn more about The MLC and how to collect digital mechanical royalties. The list below are just a few of the most popular ones. Visit The MLC’s YouTube channel for many more.

About The MLC in 60 seconds (animated)

Four Ways to Get Paid Your Streaming Royalties (animated)

Playlist of videos for Independent Songwriters

Playlist of videos for Publishers, Administrators, and CMOs

The MLC Tools

The MLC offers a suite of tools to help you find, register, claim, and manage your musical works (aka song) data so you can collect the digital audio mechanical royalties you've earned. Whether you're a Member or simply checking song information, these tools make it easy to Play Your Part.

View MLC Tools

Missing Member Lookup

Missing Member Lookup is a database of rightsholders that are not yet Members of The MLC who may be entitled to collect U.S. digital audio mechanical royalties. To see if The MLC may have royalties for you, enter your rightsholder information to search.

Find My Royalties

Resources

Learn more about music rights, royalties, and beyond

Songwriters

Publishers and Administrators

Digital Service Providers

Students and Educators

Lawyers

Stakeholders

Explore All Resources

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CONNECTING WITH THE MLC IS FREE AND EASY

Whether you’re an independent songwriter, a music publisher or administrator, a collective management organization, or someone looking to better manage your song data, The MLC is for YOU! Join today to connect your songs with the streaming royalties they’ve earned.

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