May 2026 Royalty Distribution Recap

The MLC completed its fifth royalty distribution of the year on May 14. May’s distribution primarily covered newly reported usage that took place in February 2026. The total of all royalty pools reported to The MLC for this cycle was approximately $77.1 million.

Every month, our team attempts to match the newly reported sound recording uses we receive to the musical works data in our public database and then distributes the resulting matched royalties to our Members. This month, we were able to match over 83 percent of the total royalty pools reported to us by DSPs primarily for their February 2026 usage to songs registered in our database.

After deducting $1.5 million in royalties for usage covered by voluntary licenses maintained by DSPs with rightsholders, we collected approximately $75.7 million in royalties and distributed approximately $56.5 million to our Members.

We also continued to reprocess the remaining royalties from previous usage periods. As a result, we were able to distribute an additional $7.6 million in royalties from previously unmatched or unclaimed uses. (These are uses that we were able to match, through reprocessing, to data submitted to us after we completed the initial distribution cycle for that usage.) Thanks to reprocessing, our current average match rates for 2021 and 2022 now range between 93 and 95 percent, and our overall current match rate for all periods is now over 92 percent.

As you regularly see in our monthly newsletters, we always break down the remaining royalties that are pending distribution into the following three categories: unmatched, unclaimed, and in dispute*. We do this to provide greater transparency into the reasons these royalties have not yet been distributed and to help you understand the steps you can take to help us reduce these amounts. For a refresher on these terms and what you can do to collect your royalties, check out our latest Annual Royalty Recap that we published in February.

This month, the remaining royalties still pending distribution break down as follows:

• $12.9 million in royalties for uses we have not been able to match to registered works;

• $5.2 million in royalties for shares of matched works that have not yet been registered (or claimed) by our Members; and

• $1.1 million in matched royalties that are in dispute* (e.g., ownership disputes, legal holds, overclaim holds, statutory termination holds, or other review over eligibility for payment).

*We previously referred to this category of royalties as being “on hold.” We now refer to these royalties as “in dispute” to more accurately reflect why they have not yet been distributed.