MLC To Host “El MLC En Español” For Hispanic Heritage Month, Unveils New Spanish Resources

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month in September with “El MLC en Español”–a new initiative designed to engage current and prospective Spanish-speaking members of The MLC and kick off the availability of Spanish-language resources.

Developed by Dae Bogan, The MLC’s Head of Third-Party Partnerships, “El MLC en Español” is the result of a collaboration with Take Creative Control [Latin], Protege Tu Música TV, LLC (Protect Your Music TV, LLC), Songwriters of North America (SONA) and others.

Taking place the week of Sept. 27, the event will feature the launch of comprehensive Spanish informational materials and assets about The MLC, as well as a pair of webinars.

Among the new informational assets is a Spanish-language landing page on The MLC website and a Spanish-language video that broadly introduces viewers to the concept of digital audio mechanical royalties and the existence of The MLC. Additionally, The MLC will make available a new Spanish-language toolkit developed for organizations that represent Latin music creators.

“The Latin music genre has experienced tremendous growth on digital platforms in recent years and as a result, we recognize that there is a real need to raise awareness among Spanish-speaking music creators about The MLC and how our organization can help them,” Bogan explains. “I have had the privilege of partnering with leaders from the Latin music community who are working to promote and advance the interests of Spanish-speaking creators on similar initiatives in the past. Their feedback and expertise have been invaluable in shaping this initiative, which exemplifies The MLC’s strong commitment to listening to, and working with, every segment of the community of rightsholders that we serve.”

“Dae has done a wonderful job putting this important initiative together for The MLC, and I’m so grateful for the participation of our partners,” adds Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC. “This initiative is a great example of how The MLC is putting its commitment to diversity into practice, in a way that will provide meaningful benefits to our members.”

The first webinar, presented by The MLC and SONA, will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 12 p.m. CT. The session will be hosted by Stephanie Santiago-Rolón, Director of Take Creative Control [Latin], who will lead a conversation with Colombian-American singer-songwriter-producer-engineer Dahlia Lagos and Costa Rica-born singer-songwriter Dani Blau. To register, click here.

The second webinar will take place on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m. CT. Host Yira Santiago, CEO & Entertainment Attorney of Protege Tu Música TV LLC, will lead a discussion on the U.S. digital music royalties ecosystem for Spanish-language songs and how creators can collect those royalties, with panelists Katerine Albert (Human Resource Generalist at The MLC), Henry Alonzo (Board Member at The Gospel Music Association), Alexandria Davila (CEO at Adarga Entertainment Group) and Mauricio Maestre (Entertainment Lawyer at M&M Lawyers, Colombia). To register for the Understanding and Collecting U.S. Digital Mechanical Royalties webinar, click here.