The Music Modernization Act, (“MMA”) was introduced on April 10, 2018 to update the copyright laws to ensure statutory licensing is more impartial for creators and efficient for digital music providers. There are three key titles of this Act: Musical Works Modernization Act, Classics Protection and Access Act, and Allocation for Music Producers Act. The United States Copyright Office has tasked the Mechanical Licensing Collective, Inc. to execute and oversee the MMA.
As of January 01, 2021, the Mechanical Licensing Collective receives notices and reports from digital music providers, proposes and oversees blanket licenses, constructs and preserves a musical works database, collects and disseminates mechanical royalty payments, manages claims of ownership by authors and composers, etc. The Music Modernization Act and Mechanical Licensing Collective (“the Collective”) are new and therefore have some kinks to iron out in order to meet their mission of ensuring creators and publishers receive their mechanical royalties from streaming and downloading services accurately and in a timely manner.
With the MMA, the song composers will have a greater chance of being paid their dues, however, they will be required to ensure the proper registration has been made with the Collective. Creators represented by a publisher may choose to share the responsibility for the proper registration as they will not receive payment of any kind until this is complete. Information needed to register your song includes: your name, song title, song ID number, publisher number, and copyright registration if applicable.
As with any new organization, there have been major problems that have been rearing their ugly heads. Song administration rights have been claimed by imposter creators or publishers. A route to rectify these mistakes, is to prepare a dispute over the ownership and forward it to the Collective. Another large issue seen, is ensuring that songs are registered before your designated “spotlight” date (date chosen by the Collective for royalty payouts) or the royalties will not be present on the monthly statement. However, the Collective has confirmed that if missed, the previous monies for registered songs will be present on the next statement.
Organizations like GRAMMY Advocacy and The Recording Academy are promoting the MMA on social media to guarantee the rightful song owners are receiving their unmatched money. $424 million in unmatched royalties is up for grab, so see if the Collective is appropriate for you!