MLC Black Box funds still unpaid as royalties pass $2.4B

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) has collected more than $2.4 billion from DSP on behalf of songwriters and publishers. But about 50% of unmatched or so called MLC “Black Box” funds remain unpaid.

The MLC announced a number of milestones at its fourth annual membership meeting last week.

• 47,000 members, having added more than 11,000 to date in 2024. 
• Its public database has more than 42 million works, an increase of over 7 million added in 2024.
• 42 monthly royalty distributions to date
• Developed and enhanced its growing suite of tools, including the recently released Overclaims Tool, that enable Members to register works, claim their shares of previously registered works, submit proposed matches of their works to unmatched usage, and more.  
• Extensive efforts to conduct outreach and educational activities aimed at reaching the full cross-section of the rightsholder community, with over 350 in-person outreach and education events.

A “Black” Cloud

Despite the $2.4 million milestone, many in the music community are calling for more transparency regarding tens of millions of dollars in a “Black Box” collected by MLC for songs it has been unable to match with their owner as well as how that money is invested.

“Nobody can believe that the MLC can’t manage to pay out several hundred million dollars of streaming mechanical royalties for over three years so far.” says Attorney Chris Castle. Exactly how much is unclear but the MLC has invested $804,555,579 in stocks as of the end of 2022 according to its tax return, Part X, line 11.) 

The MLC points to something closer to $175 million still owed and touts a current match rate for all royalties processed through September’s royalty distribution of over 90%.

But more than three years after launch, the MLC’s 10% unmatched rate is unacceptable to many songwriters and music publishers.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.