The MLC Marks Growth At Annual Membership Meeting

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The Mechanical Licensing Collective held its Annual Membership Meeting on Oct. 1, marking another year of growth, progress, and impact including more than $3 Billion in royalties distributed.

The MLC’s Class A Members re-selected Kara DioGuardi to serve another three-year term as a Songwriter Director of the Board, and the MLC’s Class B Members re-elected Tim Cohan of peermusic to serve another term as a Publisher Director and elected Lidia Kim of Concord Music Publishing as a new Publisher Director. The makeup of the Class C Members will remain unchanged in 2026.

“The MLC has become the largest single source of U.S. digital revenue for songwriters and publishers—distributing more than $3 billion in royalties since launching operations, at no cost to our Members,” says Alisa Coleman, Board Chair of The MLC. “With pride comes responsibility. Our job now is to sustain this success, keep improving, and ensure every songwriter and publisher—no matter their size or background—can rely on The MLC as a trusted partner in their creative journey.”

Over its first four years of operations, The MLC has continued to efficiently administer the mechanical license for more than 50 digital service providers across the U.S. In 2025, membership has grown to more than 68,000 members worldwide. The MLC has also continued 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. As a result, The MLC has surpassed a major milestone, distributing more than $3 billion in total royalties to rightsholders.

The MLC has distributed more than $225 million in historical royalties, more than 57% of the total amount of historical unmatched royalties DSPs were unable to match and distribute before transferring them to The MLC. The MLC’s current match rate for all royalties processed through September’s royalty distribution is nearly 92%. The MLC has also 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,” shares Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC. “Together, we’ve built an organization that is committed to providing world-class service that empowers our Members, enhances transparency, drives innovation, and transforms the way rights and royalties are administered in the music business. We look forward to achieving more milestones in the coming year, all while remaining laser-focused on fulfilling our mission to ensure that songwriters, composers, lyricists, and their music publishing and administration partners receive their mechanical royalties from streaming and download services in the United States accurately and on time.”

Lorie Hollabaugh
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