Prior Settlement Dispute Reminder

As required by Copyright Office regulations, The MLC sent Notices of Right to Dispute to certain rightsholders in October 2021, informing them that they had been identified by Spotify and/or YouTube as a party to one or more prior licenses, releases or other agreements containing a release of royalty claims. Unless you provide a Notice of Dispute to The MLC, you may not be entitled to receive historical unmatched royalties for uses by these services during specific periods.

April marks the midway point of the 12-month window during which the Regulation requires a Notice of Dispute to be provided to The MLC. The October email correspondence highlighted the steps to take if you wish to dispute withholdings from the historical unmatched royalties made by Spotify and Google/YouTube.  

What does this mean? Spotify and/or Google/YouTube has relied on a voluntary license, release, or prior agreement (“Agreement(s)”) to estimate a reduction in the amount of accrued historical unmatched royalties those services sent to The MLC and are attributable to each rightsholder who received one of those letters. Essentially, Spotify and/or YouTube relied on those Agreements to withhold royalties from the total historical unmatched royalties sent to The MLC.  

What must rightsholders impacted by this action do? Any recipient of the Notice of Right to Dispute may dispute the withholding by Spotify and/or YouTube by 1) submitting a Notice of Dispute to The MLC and 2) pursue dispute resolution measures, such as filing a lawsuit, engaging in alternative dispute resolution (i.e. mediation, arbitration, etc.) or resolve the dispute directly with Spotify and/or YouTube pursuant to a negotiated settlement or otherwise. 

Members must take both actions – notifying The MLC alone will not be sufficient to claim any monies that have been withheld by those services or resolve any dispute with them. 

Why is this April important? Any recipient one of those letters must provide The MLC with a Notice of Dispute on or by October 5, 2022. We are sharing this reminder now in April, roughly six months ahead of that deadline.  

Need help or more information? Members of The MLC impacted by this issue should email disputequestions@themlc.com with specific questions or if you need assistance. You can also learn more about this issue – including what is required for a Notice of Dispute and how to submit one to The MLC – in the Impact of Prior Settlements FAQ section on our website.