Understanding the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC)

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is a U.S. rights organization that collects mechanical royalties from eligible digital streaming activity. If you add CDB Boost to an eligible release, CD Baby can register your original songs with The MLC and collect those royalties for you.

Quick summary:

• The MLC covers U.S. digital mechanical royalties, not performance royalties.
• Only eligible original songs can be registered through CDB Boost.
• Do not enroll a track if another administrator, such as Songtrust, already collects its U.S. mechanical royalties.
• Royalties collected in one quarter are generally credited to your CD Baby account two quarters later.

How collection through CDB Boost works

The MLC administers a blanket mechanical license for eligible U.S. streaming services. It matches usage and royalty data to songwriters and publishers and maintains a public database of registered musical works.

When you enroll an eligible track through CDB Boost, CD Baby submits the registration and collects the resulting mechanical royalties on your behalf.

Which songs are eligible?

Original songs are eligible. The following are not eligible for MLC collection through CDB Boost:

• Cover songs
• Public-domain songs
• Tracks that use non-exclusive samples or loops

If only some tracks on a release are already registered with The MLC, choose only the unregistered eligible tracks during CDB Boost enrollment.

Do not enroll a track if another publisher or administrator already collects its U.S. mechanical royalties. Duplicate registrations can delay matching and payment.

Legacy Pro Publishing releases are already registered for the applicable publishing services and do not need separate MLC enrollment through CDB Boost.

When are royalties paid?

Royalties collected in one quarter are generally credited two quarters later. For example, royalties earned from January through March are expected in the third quarter of the year.

The MLC also holds unmatched historical royalties while it attempts to identify the correct rights holders. The current article states that this matching effort continues for at least three years.

Does The MLC deduct a fee?

The MLC does not deduct an administration fee from the royalties it remits to rights holders. Digital service providers fund The MLC's operations.

CD Baby's separate commission for royalties collected through The MLC is listed in How much does CD Baby cost?.

Updating a registration

If your registration is changed incorrectly, you'll need to takedown and resubmit the release.