The MLC (The Mechanical Licensing Collective) is a non-profit organization that collects digital mechanical royalties administers blanket mechanical compulsory licenses in USA only. It maintains a database online available to everyone. Royalties are collected from the DSP / streaming services and paid to publishers.
Every publisher OR publishing administrator signs up free with the MLC.- If you self publisher you do sign up with the MLC and you get paid 100% directly from the MLC.
- If you hire a publishing administrator you don’t sign up with the MLC and they receive these royalties from the MLC and then pass along to you after deducting their percentage.
Every song must be registered with the MLC for proper tracking of owed royalties.
*** What if I co-wrote a song with someone else? Do we both need to become Members of The MLC?
The answer depends on which parties have the right to register the co-written musical work with The MLC and collect the mechanical royalties. If co-writers create a legal entity, which they co-own, and which has been assigned the right to register the co-written musical work with The MLC, and collect the related mechanical royalties, then only the legal entity needs to become a Member. If each co-writer has retained their right to register musical works with The MLC and collect their own mechanical royalties, then each co-writer needs to become a Member of The MLC. [Ref.]
References:
the MLC
Understanding How Digital & Physical Mechanical Royalties Work w/Serona Elton of MLC
Self-Administered Songwriters (MLC)
How Does The MLC Work
Search MLC registered DSPs