Main Ideas and Key Points: Mechanical Licensing Collective and the State of Mechanical Licensing in 2023

The CEO of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), Chris R.N., discusses the big issues in mechanical licensing in 2023. He highlights the need for awareness and understanding among creators about their entitlement to mechanical royalties when their songs are streamed on popular services. Chris emphasizes the importance of data transparency and good comprehensive data on sound recordings and the connection between songs and recordings. The MLC has made significant progress in terms of setting up the organization, collecting and distributing royalties, and illuminating the black box of unpaid royalties. Transparency and timely royalty payments are major focuses. Artists and songwriters have expressed the desire for faster payments and improved processes for capturing data and linking sound recordings to musical works. Chris hopes for increased engagement from creators in managing their data and becoming more data-centric to ensure the fair and accurate distribution of royalties. He also envisions a future with more data managers throughout the industry and an exploration of how AI could help fill gaps in data.