Mechanical rights organisation · United States

How to register with The MLC.

Register with The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) — the only organization legally authorized to issue blanket mechanical licenses to all US streaming platforms. Free registration.

⏱ 20–25 minutesMechanical royalties

Create Your MLC Account (Free)

Register at themlc.com as a Songwriters/Composers/Lyricists member. The MLC is completely free — it is funded by the streaming services under the Music Modernization Act (2018), not by artist fees.

Why this matters

The MLC is the sole authorized collector for US streaming mechanical royalties. Every stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal generates a mechanical royalty. Without MLC registration, your share sits in an unmatched pool.

Common mistake

Assuming that your ASCAP or BMI registration covers mechanical royalties. It does not. These are legally two separate royalty streams collected by two separate organizations.

Register Your Works with ISRCs

For each composition, submit:

Song title (must match exactly what your distributor submitted)

ISRC code(s) for each recording of this composition

Co-writer IPI numbers and splits

The ISRC is the "metadata bridge" — it links a specific recording (what plays on Spotify) to your composition (what earns the mechanical royalty). Without this link, the royalty is unmatched.

MLC Portal — Register Works

Why this matters

This is the most mechanically important step in the entire registration process. Every Spotify stream sends an ISRC to The MLC to calculate mechanical royalties. If The MLC can't match your ISRC to a registered composition, the royalty is collected but undeliverable.

Common mistake

Registering the composition without adding the ISRC. The title alone is not enough — The MLC needs the ISRC to create the ISRC ↔ ISWC bridge that routes streaming payments to you.

Search for Unmatched Royalties

The MLC holds a large pool of unmatched mechanical royalties collected from streaming services. Search by your name, song title, or ISRC to check if any funds match your catalog.

These funds have an expiration window — claim them now.

Search Unmatched Royalties →

Why this matters

The MLC estimates hundreds of millions of dollars sit in its unmatched royalties pool. If you've had any releases on streaming, there's a real chance some of this is yours.

Common mistake

Skipping this step. Even artists who just released music may find royalties from pre-release promotional streaming or catalog that was distributed before MLC launched in 2021.

Rekon tracks whether you're actually registered with The MLC — and 36 others.

Connect your platforms once and Rekon flags every registration gap automatically, with the exact fix for each.

Rekon is independent of The MLC. It is not affiliated with, authorised by, or sponsored by it.