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Fix Songwriting Issues

Resolve registration issues to collect your songwriting royalties.

Monty Anglade avatar
Written by Monty Anglade
Updated over 8 months ago

It appears that your song may be encountering registration issues with both The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and your Performing Rights Organization (PRO), potentially leading to missed royalties.

The MLC:

The MLC is responsible for collecting and distributing digital audio publishing royalties for musical works in the United States. These royalties are earned when music is streamed or downloaded on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

Performance Rights Organizations (PRO):

A PRO collects royalties from businesses such as radio stations, streaming services, and live venues, and distributes them to songwriters, composers, and music publishers. By joining a PRO, you ensure that your music is properly licensed and that you receive royalties for its use.

What Issues?

  • For the MLC, your song might be missing from their database, have incomplete information, lack a publisher claim, or require direct share claiming.

  • With your PRO, the song could be absent from their systems, your IPI number might not be associated with it, or a publisher may not be listed.

These discrepancies can disrupt accurate royalty distribution, potentially resulting in missed earnings. It’s essential to address these issues with both organizations to ensure proper registration and maximize your royalty collection.

Solution

To resolve these issues and maximize your royalty collection, ensure your songs are properly registered with both The MLC and a PRO.

  • For The MLC, you can register directly as a self-administered songwriter or work with an administration publisher like Sentric or Songtrust to manage your publishing rights.

  • For performance royalties, join a PRO in your territory, such as ASCAP or BMI in the United States (note that you can join either ASCAP or BMI, but not both).

These steps will help ensure you receive all due royalties from The MLC and collect your performance royalties globally.

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