The MLC Issues Notice of Intent To Audit Multiple Streaming Services On The Accuracy of Their Royalty Payments
Digital Service Providers (DSPs) such as Spotify, Apple and many more who originally started operating under a blanket license issued by The MLC in 2021 are going under investigation.
The MLC collects US Mechanical Royalties, which is Music Publishing Royalty generated from a song’s composition. Established in 2021 by the US Copyright Office as part of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), The MLC was created as an online claiming portal to receive royalty payments.
Now that the MLC is beginning its 3rd year, they are preserving their right to initiate an audit on all their records to verify the accuracy of the royalties that have been paid to them over the initial 3 years.
Over 50 DSPs have been sent audit notice letters and if an audit leads to the recovery of additional royalties, The MLC will distribute the full amount of those additional royalties to rights holders.
The Importance of the MLC and Mechanical Royalties
Since the MLC’s inception, over $1.5 billion has been distributed to rights holders and composers in mechanical royalties, and is the first governmental intervention in the collection of publishing royalties as well as being the first public database containing critical copyright information on all musical works.
They also have ‘key rights granted by Congress’ to collect Mechanical Royalties, which allows permission to audit information given to them from DSPs.
At RouteNote Publishing, we can collect your US Mechanical Royalties from the MLC, as well as collect further royalties worldwide along with your global Performance Royalties and Neighbouring Rights on request.