As the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) approaches the end of its fourth full year of operations, it remains committed to seeking – and acting upon – Member feedback. Since beginning full operations, The MLC has consistently sought feedback from its Members to enhance its tools, resources and operations. This feedback has continuously validated The MLC's focus on conducting extensive outreach and education activities aimed at reaching as many prospective members as possible, providing best-in-class support services to its Members, and strengthening internal operations to ensure they are both effective and efficient. To further support its activities in these key areas identified by Member feedback, The MLC has elevated five existing leaders whose work focuses on these activities. This will allow The MLC to amplify its efforts to engage and educate more new Members, enhance the support services it provides to those Members, and continue to improve its internal operations for the benefit of its Members and its other stakeholders.
As the statutory mechanical licensing collective established under the Music Modernization Act (MMA), The MLC is responsible for administering the blanket compulsory mechanical license available to eligible digital service providers (DSPs) in the United States. Since the first royalty distribution in April 2021, The MLC has enrolled over 45,000 Members and completed every one of its 41 monthly royalty distributions on time or early. As a result, The MLC has achieved total royalties distributed of over $2 billion.
Both the MMA and the guidance issued by the U.S. Copyright Office require The MLC to undertake extensive efforts to conduct outreach and educational activities aimed at reaching the full cross-section of the rightsholder community. Since beginning full operations, The MLC has conducted extensive outreach and educational activities that have allowed The MLC to reach rightsholders wherever in the world they are located, while also strengthening partnerships and industry relations. Ellen Truley has led these efforts since before The MLC first began full operations, enabling The MLC to reach hundreds of thousands of stakeholders in the U.S. and around the world and to enroll over 45,000 Members to date. To further these efforts, Ellen has been elevated to Chief Marketing and External Affairs Officer. In this role, Ellen will continue to lead The MLC’s effort to develop and execute its overall marketing strategy and oversee the organization’s advertising, marketing and communications efforts, while also coordinating its educational activities, songwriter relations, industry partnerships, government relations, and other external affairs.
As The MLC continues to expand its membership across the U.S. and around the world, the organization remains steadfast in its commitment to continuously enhance and improve the service and support it provides to its Members. At the heart of The MLC’s service functions lies its industry leading Support Team, which was created and has since been managed by Lindsey Major. To further enhance The MLC’s member services, Lindsey has been elevated to Chief Member Experience Officer. In her role, Lindsey is responsible for designing, implementing and coordinating the delivery of world-class experiences to The MLC's growing membership. This includes coordinating the development and enhancement of The MLC’s 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 undertaken extensive efforts to accurately match sound recordings to the corresponding musical works, in order to fulfill its mission of striving to ensure that rightsholders receive all of their mechanical royalties from services operating under the blanket compulsory license. As a result, The MLC has achieved current match rates of roughly 90% for all royalties processed. Andrew Mitchell has led The MLC’s matching efforts from the start. As part of a larger plan to bolster The MLC’s matching capabilities, Andrew has been elevated to Chief Analytics and Automation Officer. Andrew will continue to oversee matching – including The MLC’s internal Matching Team and The MLC’s recently announced Supplemental Matching Vendor Network – while also designing, developing and implementing new strategies for harnessing the MLC’s data, leading the MLC’s fraud prevention efforts, and developing new ways to automate The MLC’s internal business processes.
Since completing its first royalty distribution in April of 2021, The MLC has completed every single monthly royalty distribution on-time or early, which has allowed The MLC to achieve total royalties distributed of over $2 billion. Joya Carmichael has led The MLC’s efforts to create, document and manage the end-to-end royalty distribution process starting with the very first monthly royalty distribution. Building upon this track record of success, Joya has been elevated to Chief Administrative Officer. Joya will continue to lead the team that coordinates and manages The MLC’s end-to-end royalty distribution process, while expanding her remit to manage other key internal processes and lead various process documentation and process improvement initiatives for the company.
Since being initially designated by the U.S. Copyright Office 2019, The MLC has met every operational milestone set by Congress and successfully fulfilled the statutory mandates outlined in the MMA. Rick Marshall has been instrumental in ensuring The MLC’s compliance with its statutory and regulatory obligations since joining the organization in 2021, while also managing The MLC’s interactions with DSPs and the blanket compulsory licensing process. Earlier this summer, Rick was elevated to General Counsel. In this new role, Rick will now lead The MLC’s in-house legal team and coordinate all of the organization’s legal matters, including its interactions with the U.S. Copyright Office, the conduct of The MLC’s important enforcement obligations under the MMA, the management of any pending litigations, and the provision of legal advice and guidance to the rest of The MLC’s team.
Strengthening its operations in these key areas reaffirm The MLC’s commitment to support its growing membership, drive innovation and transform rights administration in the music industry.
For more information about The MLC, visit www.themlc.com.
