MLC
The Mechanical Licensing Collective — the US organization designated under the Music Modernization Act (2018) to administer blanket mechanical licenses for digital streaming and downloads, collect royalties from DSPs, and distribute them to publishers and self-administered songwriters.
Articles about MLC
How to Find Unclaimed Mechanical Royalties: MLC & Stream Royalties Guide
Unclaimed mechanical royalties are common for artists releasing music on streaming platforms. This guide explains how to identify and claim these earnings, focusing on the MLC and global collection societies for songwriters and publishers.
Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC): How to License and Claim Royalty
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) administers the blanket mechanical license for digital music in the U.S., ensuring songwriters and publishers are paid. Understand how to license music and claim your royalties to avoid unmatched funds.
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and Streaming Royalties for Songwriters
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and Streaming Royalties for Songwriters If you have songs on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music in the U. S, you likely have mechanical royalties that the Mechanical Licensing Collective can pay.
Every Way to Earn Music Royalties as an Independent Artist
As an independent artist, understanding the different ways to earn music royalties separates missed income from real revenue. This checklist walks through eight distinct royalty streams, who collects them, realistic earning examples, and three concrete steps to start collecting each one, with international registration tips and services to compare.
All the Income Streams a Music Publisher Can Unlock for You
Music publishing income streams are messy and fragmented, and most independent songwriters only access a fraction of what they are owed. This list breaks down the seven income types a publisher can unlock, names who collects each payment, gives concrete examples, and leaves you with practical next steps to start claiming royalties.
How to Build a Rap Career From Scratch: A Practical Guide
If you need to know how to become a rapper and build a real rap career from scratch, this guide gives a step-by-step roadmap you can follow. You will get actionable routines for developing rap skills and writing rap lyrics, a production and release plan, rights registration and royalty collection tips, and promotion tactics tailored to hip hop audiences — plus a practical 12 month roadmap and sample budget.
Your Music Is Being Used Without Permission — Here's What to Do About It
If you have discovered your recording or song being used without permission, you are facing music copyright infringement problems that demand practical, immediate action. This guide walks you through what to do first: preserve evidence, identify which right is being violated, and stop the use on each platform, then how to recover revenue and prevent repeat misuse.
Why Your Music Distribution Royalties Don't Match Your Streams
If your streams look healthy but the money never arrives, you are facing music distribution royalties not paid, a common and solvable problem for independent artists and small labels. This article explains why stream counts do not equal payable royalties, offers a practical step-by-step audit you can run in Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists and your distributor dashboard, and shows who to contact and how to recover unpaid royalties.
The Top Collection Societies Every International Artist Should Know About
Releasing music globally means plays and broadcasts get logged in dozens of territories — and most creators leave money on the table by not registering with the right collecting bodies. This guide lists the music royalty collection societies worldwide that matter, explains what each actually collects, who should register, and gives practical next steps to claim royalties across borders.