The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) announced today (Feb. 16) that it has received a total of $424,384,787 in accrued historical unmatched royalties from digital service providers (DSPs). The data is presented with corresponding reports that identify the usage related to these royalties.
A total of 20 DSPs separately transferred accrued historical unmatched royalties to The MLC as required in order for them to seek the MMA’s limitation on liability for past infringement. In addition to the accrued unmatched royalties transferred to The MLC, the DSPs concerned also delivered more than 1,800 data files, which contain in excess of 1.3 terabytes and nine billion lines of data.
The transfer of these monies represents the culmination of a months-long effort on the part of The MLC and these DSPs to develop and implement the specifications for these usage reports. With these historical unmatched royalties and usage reports now in hand, The MLC can begin the process of reviewing and analyzing the data in order to find and pay the proper copyright owners.
Going forward, The MLC will provide additional information about historical unmatched royalties on a newly-created page on its website entitled Historical Unmatched Royalties. Below is an initial summary of the historical unmatched royalties separately transferred to The MLC by each DSP:
Read more about the data above here.
NMPA President & CEO David Israelite offered the following about the news: “Songwriters and music publishers have for years fought to ensure they were paid accurately and fully by digital streaming services. ‘Unmatched money’ has plagued the industry and today, thanks to the Music Modernization Act (MMA), we know that it amounts to just under $425 million—not including money previously paid out in multiple million dollar settlements. This significant amount proves just how broken the system was, how much the MMA was needed, and how much songwriters have to benefit from the protections it has put in place. At long last, that money can make its way to its rightful owners. This is a massive win for music creators and the streaming services themselves. The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) obtaining this historically unmatched money, doing the research to find its owners, and giving copyright owners a transparent process to claim what is theirs is exciting progress that paves the way for the future growth of streaming that will benefit the entire industry.”
The post The MLC Receives $424 Million In Historical Unmatched Royalties From DSPs appeared first on MusicRow.com.