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The MLC launches new 'Music Registration 101' micro-course. The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has launched its new online micro-course, "Music Registration 101: Registering Your Music." The course is designed to help music creators, industry professionals, and others better understand how music rights work and how to properly register them in order to ensure royalties are distributed to the appropriate rightsholders. "Music Registration 101" provides a practical overview of registration across key organizations involved in copyright, publishing administration and distribution. Available at no cost, the course is designed to make foundational music rights information more accessible. It is also included as part of The MLC's Member Benefits program, giving Members of The MLC access to educational tools and resources that support their careers. The course takes approximately three hours to complete, and upon completion, participants receive a personalized certificate for academic or professional use. Those who choose to take the optional final assessment and score 80% or higher also earn a digital badge. More information on enrollment can be found here. Key topics in "Music Registration 101" include: * Core concepts of copyright, rights, revenue, licensing, and music identifiers * How music is registered with the United States Copyright Office * An overview of publishing administration for musical works * How performance royalties are collected through performing rights organizations (PROs) * How mechanical royalties are collected through The MLC * How sound recording distribution revenue is collected by distributors * How digital performance royalties for sound recordings are collected through SoundExchange "The MLC is focused on making sure rightsholders get paid, while also helping them understand how the ecosystem works," says Serona Elton, Head of Educational Partnerships at The MLC. "This course breaks down complex concepts into clear, practical information so rightsholders can take meaningful steps in managing their careers and ensuring they receive the royalties they've earned." The MLC also offers "The MLC 101: Introduction to The MLC," a foundational course that provides an overview of The MLC, mechanical licensing, and mechanical royalties, including key concepts such as the Music Modernization Act, membership, and how mechanical royalties are administered in today's digital music landscape. Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at [email protected].

The MLC holds Annual Membership Meeting, highlighting more than $3 billion in royalties distributed. The MLC also announced the re-selection of Kara DioGuardi as a Songwriter Director of the Board, the re-election of Tim Cohan as a Publisher Director of the Board and the election of Lidia Kim as a Publisher Director of the Board. NASHVILLE, TN - The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) held its Annual Membership Meeting on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, marking another year of growth, progress, and impact for songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers. The meeting opened with announcements regarding the organization's Board of Directors. The MLC's Class A Members re-selected Kara DioGuardi to serve a third three-year term as a Songwriter Director of the Board. The MLC's Class B Members re-elected Tim Cohan to a second term as a Publisher Director and elected Lidia Kim as a new Publisher Director. The make-up of the Class C Members will remain unchanged in 2026. Following these announcements, Board Chair Alisa Coleman shared personal remarks about The MLC's progress over the past year, and members of The MLC's leadership team presented key operational updates and milestones. Now in its fourth year of operations, The MLC continues to efficiently administer the blanket compulsory mechanical license for more than 50 digital service providers (DSPs) across the United States. In 2025, membership has grown to over 68,000 worldwide, and The MLC has completed every one of its 54 monthly royalty distributions on time or early. The MLC also continues to see a steady increase in the volume of musical works data added to its public database, which now contains data for more than 50 million songs, allowing anyone to search The MLC's database at no cost. As a result, The MLC has surpassed a major milestone, distributing more than $3 billion in total royalties to rightsholders. This milestone underscores The MLC's ongoing commitment to bringing greater transparency, efficiency, and accuracy to digital audio mechanical royalty distributions in the United States. Here is a list of the key metrics and milestones The MLC's leadership team shared during the meeting: * The MLC has achieved total royalties distributed of more than $3 billion and has processed nearly $4 billion in royalties. As of the September distribution, The MLC has distributed over $225 million in historical royalties. * The MLC now has more than 68,000 Members, having added more than 18,000 to date in 2025. * The MLC has compiled data for more than 50 million works in its public database, an increase of over 6 million new works added in 2025 alone. * The MLC's current match rate for all royalties processed through September's royalty distribution is nearly 92 percent. * The MLC has completed 54 monthly royalty distributions to date, every one of which has been completed on time or early. * The MLC successfully developed and enhanced its growing suite of tools that enable Members to register works, claim their shares of previously registered works, submit proposed matches of their works to unmatched usage, and more. * The MLC has made extensive efforts to conduct outreach and educational activities aimed at reaching the full cross-section of the rightsholder community, with nearly 200 outreach and education events in 2025, contributing to a total of more than 1,000 outreach and education activities to reach and educate rightsholders. "We're incredibly grateful for the support of our Members and partners," said Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC. "Together, we've built an organization that not only delivers royalties accurately and on time but also brings new levels of transparency and innovation to rights administration. Surpassing $3 billion distributed is a milestone, but it's only one step in our ongoing mission to ensure every songwriter and publisher is paid what they are owed." More information on The MLC's Board of Directors and Advisory Committees can be found here. For more information about The MLC, visit https://www.themlc.com.