Mechanical Licensing Collective

05 February 2019 - Press release

Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) Coalition Unveils Broad Support for Copyright Office Submission, Announces Board and Committee Members and Launches Songwriter Petition

The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Songwriters of North America (SONA) today unveiled broad endorsements for their industry-consensus Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) submission to the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO).
The submission, which will be filed by March 21^st, creates the collective required by the Music Modernization Act (MMA) to license and administer mechanical rights. Additionally, the groups announced the MLC Board and Committee appointments and launched the MLC website, SongConnect.org, as well as a website for all of the songwriters and artists who support the MLC to officially endorse: supportthemlc.com.
 
The Music Modernization Act (MMA) requires that the MLC is "endorsed by, and enjoys substantial support from, musical work copyright owners that together represent the greatest percentage of the licensor market for uses of such works in covered activities."
 
Today, the overwhelming majority of copyright owners who together represent the majority of musical works in the U.S. have voiced support for the MLC submission, and joining them are performance rights organizations, record labels and many other organizations listed below.