Since April, we have been distributing matched historical royalties in sets. We first distribute matched historical royalties for previously unpaid uses reported by the DSP (or DSPs) concerned, followed by royalties for previously partially paid uses from that same DSP (or DSPs).
Last month, we distributed the second group of DSPs of matched Phono 3 historical royalties covering usage from 2018, 2019 and 2020. These royalties pertain to uses during those three years that took place on six digital services: GTL, Mixcloud, Pandora, Qobuz, Recisio, and YouTube. We had planned to pay the set of previously partially paid matched historical royalties from these services in this month’s distribution, but, ultimately, we needed more time to process these royalties. So, on July 12, we notified Members that we would not be including those royalties in the July 2024 distribution as expected. We are currently assessing when we will be able to distribute those royalties. We will let you know which future distribution will include these royalties once we have made that determination.
In the meantime, we still intend to include the first set of royalties for uses on Spotify that took place in 2018 and 2019 in next month's distribution (i.e., the August 2024 distribution) as we had previously announced.
Historical Unmatched Royalties
This month, we continued to distribute matched historical royalties for uses that took place between 2007 and 2017 (during the Phono 1 and 2 rate periods). As a result of reprocessing the remaining unmatched historical royalties that we began processing in 2022, we were able to distribute approximately $56k in Phono 1 and 2 historical royalties this month, plus interest, from a number of different digital services. We also continued to reprocess Phono 3 unmatched historical royalties related to uses from 2018, 2019, and 2020 that took place on Apple, Pandora, Soundcloud, and YouTube — distributing approximately $239k in those Phono 3 historical royalties this month. Cumulatively, we distributed approximately $295k in historic unmatched royalties reprocessing in July's distribution.
Overall, we have distributed more than 86 percent of the previously unmatched royalties for uses that took place during the Phono 1 rate period, more than 49 percent of the previously unmatched royalties for uses that took place during the Phono 2 rate period, and now more than 24 percent of the previously unmatched royalties for uses that took place during the Phono 3 rate period for a total of $112 million dollars in historical royalties.
Consistent with the way we’ve handled matched historical royalties in the past, the matched historical royalties we distributed this month are clearly identified on your royalty statements, and we specify the usage month for these historical royalties just like we do for blanket royalties. As we have always done, we’ve distributed matched historical royalties using the same payee data that we used to distribute blanket royalties (i.e. we’ve distributed royalties to the “current payee” registered in The MLC database, as reflected in the snapshot of ownership data we used for this month’s blanket royalty distribution).
Where can I learn more?
We will continue to provide monthly recaps and previews about the matched historical royalties we distribute for uses from the Phono 3 period in our monthly Member newsletters.
To catch up on the progress we’ve shared about historical unmatched royalties so far, you can find all the updates here. You can also read an overview on our historical unmatched royalties page (which reflects the most current Phono 3 adjustments) here.
As always, if you have any questions about any of these updates, or anything else related to The MLC, please don’t hesitate to contact our Support Team.