IMPORTANT UPDATES
Banking & Tax Information: If you are a U.S.-based Member and you authorized the Harry Fox Agency to share your HFA account information with The MLC by saying “yes” to the opt-in request sent to their affiliates last Summer, The MLC will use the banking and tax information that HFA had on file for you when you submitted the opt-in request. However, The MLC strongly encourages those Members to review their banking and financial information again now in The MLC Portal to confirm that it is still accurate and up to date.
For International Members, because the W-8BEN tax form you are required to provide expires after three years, we ask that you log into The Portal and submit your data again now to ensure that your information is current and that the form you previously submitted to HFA has not expired. The MLC also requests that you submit your banking details at that time.
Dispute Policy Webpage: The MLC has added a page to its website where you can learn more about The MLC’s policies for handling disputes. You can also access a copy of our first Disputes Policy, which deals with musical works ownership disputes. This policy will guide how The MLC handles ownership disputes that are brought to our attention. It was based on the framework developed by our Disputes Resolution Committee, one of the three committees established by the Music Modernization Act to advise The MLC’s Board of Directors.
Data Quality Initiative (DQI): Did you know that MLC Members have already compared their data with the data in our database for nearly 10 million musical works using the Data Quality Initiative (DQI)? The DQI provides rightsholders with a streamlined way to compare their data with ours. Each time you submit a DQI file for comparison, you’ll receive a report back from us that highlights any discrepancies between our data and yours, so you can quickly review them and make any needed corrections.
Checking your data in The MLC’s database, and correcting any errors you find, will help ensure you receive all of the mechanical royalties you are owed when The MLC begins distributing royalties later this Spring. If you haven’t taken advantage of the DQI yet, please fill out this form to contact our DQI Support Team to get started. Remember, the DQI is free for all participants!
Public Search: As we announced in last month’s newsletter, The MLC’s Public Search window is now live and accessible via our website. Just click the yellow “Public Search” button at the top right corner of our website to get started. Using our Public Search feature is a quick and easy way to research the musical works data in our database, and it’s also free!
TAKE ACTION
Get Ready for Our First Royalty Distribution: The MLC remains on track to make its first royalty distribution to our Members at the end of April. From that point on, we will distribute royalties on a monthly basis. For more information about the process, please visit the Blanket Payments page in the “How It Works” section of our website: TheMLC.com/blanket-payments.
Don’t Forget to Check your Banking and Contact Information: If you have not done so already, please make sure the payment and contact information we have on file for you is accurate and complete. That way, we know how to pay you when we make our first royalty distribution in April! You can access this information in The MLC Portal by clicking on “Maintenance” in the menu on the left-hand side of your Member account screen. As always, please contact our Support Team if you have any questions or if you have any trouble finding and checking your information.
Download our Royalty Statement Detail File Template: If you work for a music publisher, administrator or ex-US CMO and you’re wondering what The MLC’s royalty files will look like, you can now download a copy of the template we will be using for our royalty distribution detail files. The MLC will be sending all rightsholders detail files in a TSV format, which will make them easy to open in Excel and also to ingest into your internal royalty systems if you are administering these royalties on behalf of others.