The MLC has started developing the congressionally mandated process for distributing remaining unmatched and unclaimed blanket royalties, with the intent of beginning those distributions in early 2027. We plan to distribute one month of remaining blanket royalties each month, starting with the remaining royalties from January 2021 (the first month that DSPs reported royalties to The MLC according to the blanket license we administer). We will allocate the remaining royalties on a pro rata basis for each DSP and offering, using The MLC’s actual distribution data, and then distribute those royalties with interest calculated at the statutory rate. Every song that earned monthly royalties (whether initially or via reprocessing) will receive its pro rata share of the remaining royalties for that month.

Our Progress to Date

Since launching in 2021, The MLC has focused on empowering rightsholders with unprecedented transparency, powerful tools, education-focused outreach, and responsive service. As a result, we now have more than 76,000 Members and more than 52 million works in our publicly available database. We have also welcomed more than 6,700 songwriters to our Songwriter Hub since its debut last fall.

This focus, along with our Members playing their part, has delivered real results. The MLC has processed over $4 billion in royalties. Our current average match rate for the royalties we have processed to date is nearly 92 percent. Moreover, fewer than 5 percent of the remaining unmatched sound recording resources have accrued more than $1 in royalties across all periods, and of the over 95 percent that have accrued less than $1, their average cumulative value is only between 5 and 6 cents each.

The metrics for our 2021 usage are even more positive. Our current average match rate for all 2021 usage is now 94 percent. Moreover, only a small fraction of the sound recording resources reported in 2021 that remain unmatched — and a similarly small fraction of unclaimed shares of works — have accrued over $100 in cumulative royalties from 2021 usage. 

Over the course of this year, we will continue our matching and outreach efforts, so we expect these metrics will continue to improve. Still, with our metrics showing that the incremental improvements are diminishing over time, we are mindful that Congress did not intend for The MLC to hold onto remaining unmatched and unclaimed royalties indefinitely. The planned period for matching and distributing royalties from 2021 will span six years. This is twice as long as the three-year holding period the law mandates.

How It Will Work

Once distributions of the remaining unmatched and unclaimed royalties begin in 2027, we will include those additional royalties in our regular monthly royalty reporting. Members will see these amounts clearly identified in their monthly royalty statements, broken down by DSP and offering, just like we currently report blanket royalties. We will also include metrics for these additional royalties in the aggregate distribution summaries we provide in our Member newsletter, on our website, and in our Annual Reports.

We will allocate the remaining royalties on a pro rata basis for each DSP and offering, using The MLC’s actual distribution data. We will not use estimates. Every song that earned monthly royalties (whether initially or via reprocessing) will receive its pro rata share of the remaining royalties for that month.

The current amount of remaining unmatched and unclaimed royalties from January 2021 that would be eligible to be included in our first monthly distribution in 2027 is less than $7 million, and that remaining amount will likely be even lower (due to continued reprocessing) by the time we complete our first distribution. We expect the remaining amounts that are eligible to be distributed in subsequent months will be comparable. We will also undertake additional matching efforts specifically focused on the remaining 2021 royalties before we begin distributing those remaining royalties.

What About Historical Royalties?

Once the process for distributions of remaining blanket royalties has been successfully launched, we will look to begin processing the remaining historical royalties. As a reminder, in 2021, 21 DSPs transferred to The MLC all of the historical royalties (for periods from 2007 through 2020) they had been unable to match and distribute despite their best efforts. The total transferred was approximately $397 million (at the final rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board). We have made great progress here as well: We have matched over $317 million (or nearly 80 percent) of the historical royalties originally transferred to us to registered works in our database, and we have distributed over $229 million (or nearly 58 percent) of these royalties to the Members who have claimed their shares of those works.

We will share additional details regarding our anticipated timing for the start of our distributions of the remaining historical royalties well ahead of their eventual start date. In the meantime, we will also continue our ongoing efforts to match and distribute the remaining historical royalties over the coming year.

What Rightsholders Can Do Now

As always, we encourage rightsholders to review and update their data regularly to ensure they receive all of the royalties to which they are entitled by:

  • Making sure all of their songs are registered with The MLC and using our Works Registration Tools to register any missing songs;
  • Using our Claiming Tool to make sure they have claimed their share of any song that was initially registered by another Member; and
  • Using our Matching Tool to review unmatched sound recordings and suggest matches to songs in their catalog.

We have created an initial set of FAQs, which you can view here. We will continue to supplement these FAQs throughout the coming year. We will also continue to share updates in our monthly Member newsletters as we finalize additional details.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Support Team. Publishers and administrators can also direct questions to their contacts on our Publisher Relations team.