Photo Credit: Panagiotis Falcos
MusicAnswers has spent two years conducting a survey of college student music creators to better understand their experience with song registration agencies—specifically the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). The results are pretty grim, with a majority of college students being unaware of the MLC’s purpose or what they do in the industry.
A survey of 150 music creator college students from across the United States reveals that 93% of respondents have never seen any information from The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Just 17% were able to correctly identify the function of the Collective among several multiple choice options.
The MLC is the US-based body currently authorized by the federal government to collect and distribute streaming royalties to songwriters, composers, and music publishers. MusicAnswers shared their survey data exclusively with Digital Music News, while highlighting how few students realize that a regulatory body exists for mechanical publishing royalties.
Digging deeper, only 15% of respondents have received information about The MLC from American performing rights organizations (PROs), The Recording Academy, the U.S. Copyright Office, the Music Business Association, and the Harry Fox Agency combined, the survey revealed.
The diverse survey sample included songwriters and composers from Berklee College of Music (Boston), Columbia College (Chicago), New York University (New York), Tiffin University (Ohio), the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), Vanderbilt University (Nashville), Wayne State University (Detroit), and Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo).
When tasked with identifying the MLC’s function, just 17% of survey respondents were able to correctly identify the MLC as ‘an agency that collects U.S. royalties for the reproduction and distribution of musical works.’ Citing the measly result, MusicAnswers — an advocacy group led by industry vets Phil Galdston, David Wolfert, Doug Wood, Derek Fawcett, and Matthew Dylan Rose — says the time has come to have a serious conversation within the community about how to better serve the needs of these up-and-coming independent music creators.
“The responses suggest that critical information about how to fully register songs isn’t reaching college student songwriters, guaranteeing that they’re not receiving royalties that are owed to them,” the group relayed.
But how many of these creators are actively releasing (and monetizing) their music?
That seems like an important distinction, particularly given that artists who haven’t released any music are understandably unaware of royalty collection details. On that point, however, MusicAnswers told DMN that roughly 50% in the survey have previously released music, though their awareness of the MLC wasn’t noticeably different than those that haven’t yet released music.
Of those who have released music, 84% of respondents had not registered with the MLC — leaving their streaming mechanical royalties unclaimed in the ‘black box’. According to DMN’s estimates, the current black box total of unclaimed royalties has now spilled into the billions of dollars.
The 2018 Music Modernization Act (MMA) officially established the MLC as the collector and distributor of U.S.-based mechanical royalties derived from interactive streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. The intended recipients are songwriters, composers, and music publishers across all sizes and stripes, including independent and unsigned creators.
The MMA provides that ‘black box’ royalties unclaimed by a date stipulated in the legislation will be paid to publishers registered with the MLC, prorated by market share. That stipulation serves to distribute royalties to rights owners instead of leaving money sitting in a bank account forever, though the criticism is that dominant publishers are positioned to soak up most of the black box money—although virtually none of it will have been generated by works they own or administer.
These numbers are certainly discouraging. But just how much of this awareness gap can be pinned on the MLC?
After all, songwriters, composers and publishers need to figure things out — and plenty of industry resources exist, including DMN — though MusicAnswers noted that the MMA also requires the MLC to actively inform the music creator community of their existence and role of the collective. That includes details on the processes required to secure any royalties due them—including the obligation to register their works with the MLC.
And what about awareness involving other royalty collection groups? On the performance royalty side, only 60% of respondents had registered their music with PROs ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC—a requirement to receive royalties from public performances.
Others, including SoundExchange, also had extremely low awareness and registrations from the survey group. A sampling of the survey results can be found below.
MusicAnswers College Music Creators — By Genre
| What type of music do you write or perform? | |
| Concert/Classical Music | 23% |
| Country | 17% |
| Electronic | 20% |
| Film and TV | 17% |
| Hip-Hop/Rap | 15% |
| Jazz | 28% |
| Latin | 8% |
| Musical Theatre | 20% |
| Pop | 72% |
| Rhythm and Blues | 34% |
| Rock | 44% |
| World Music | 7% |
| Americana | 11% |
| Folk | 43% |
| Asian Pop | 10% |
| Other | 9% |
MusicAnswers College Music Creators — Industry Support
| Have You Released Your Music? | |
| I have a contract with a record company or label | 3% |
| I release my music myself without industry support | 20% |
| I release my music through a distributor, aggregator, or administrator | 37% |
| I have a contract with a music publisher | 2% |
| I have a manager | 2% |
| I have an entertainment attorney | 2% |
| I have not yet released music | 50% |
MusicAnswers PRO Knowledge
| Do you have a PRO? | |
| Yes — ASCAP | 19% |
| Yes — BMI | 12% |
| No | 58% |
| I Don’t Know | 6% |
| Other | 5% |
| Have you registered music with your PRO? | |
| Yes | 27% |
| No | 39% |
| I have not registered with a PRO | 34% |
| Have you registered music with the MLC? | |
| Yes | 5% |
| No | 91% |
| Unsure | 4% |
| Have you registered music with SoundExchange? | |
| Yes | 7% |
| No | 87% |
| Unsure | 6% |
Music Industry Knowledge Questions
| How knowledgeable are you about copyright protections? | |
| Expert or very familiar from direct experience | 4% |
| Familiar with it, but no direct experience | 50% |
| Know it exists, but nothing more | 35% |
| No experience | 11% |
| How would you rate your knowledge of the music business? | |
| Beginner | 56% |
| Intermediate | 33% |
| Advanced | 10% |
| Expert | 1% |
| Have you seen advertisements for the MLC? | |
| No | 93% |
| Yes, YouTube | 2% |
| Yes, Facebook | 1% |
| Yes, LinkedIn | 2% |
| Yes, Instagram | 2% |
| Other | 1% |
| Have you received information about the MLC from any of the following? | |
| ASCAP | 4% |
| BMI | 4% |
| The Recording Academy | 2% |
| The U.S. Copyright Office | 2% |
| The Music Business Association | 2% |
| The Harry Fox Agency | 1% |
| MusicAnswers | 2% |
| Nashville Songwriters Association International | 1% |
| My University | 17% |
| A friend, mentor, or personal connection | 7% |
| None of the Above | 69% |
| Other | 5% |
Data & Research, Feature Story, Music Industry News, Pop Culture
This post was originally authored and published by Ashley King Digital Music News via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
