Thread:

Do all you performer songwriters know that your songs must be registered with The MLC starting in 2021? If you don't register YOU WILL NOT get paid your streaming mechanicals. Here's a thread on what you probably don't know. 1/x

https://themlc.com/ 

Q. But I thought my publisher collects my mechanicals?
A. If you have a full fledged publishing deal they probably will continue But I wouldn't count on them registering your works properly at the MLC. You need to check. Especially if you are in "the long tail." 2/x

Q. But I have a publishing administrator. Won't they continue to collect for me?
A. Maybe. Depends how important your works are to their overall operation. See it's actually pretty time consuming to register ever work with the MLC...3/x

*every work with the MLC. Your administrator may or may not take the time to put all of their data into the MLC database. 4/x

Q. But I thought the MLC was building the database?
A. Yeah that's what I thought also. Instead they are using Harry Fox Agency database.... 5/x

And the Harry Fox database is incomplete. Also in my case When I submitted my catalog to the MLC to test their database (DQI initiative), there was a 38% error rate. That is 38% of the songs were missing or did not have the correct publishing splits. 6/x

This is particularly strange as I am affiliated with Harry Fox Agency and this should have been 100% correct. The MLC customer service folks corrected my catalog because i was part of the test. Your average self-published songwriter will have to manually enter your data 7/x

There is a bulk upload feature. But that is generally for professional publishers. I don't know exactly how you get access to it. You have to put your catalog into unique data format. It is NOT CWR the international standard for song registrations. 8/x

I don't know why the CWR database was not used. Cause it might have been possible to get a CWR file from your administrator or PRO. So because of that, if you are a self published songwriter it's probably best to set aside 3 or 4 weekends and use manual entry. 9/x

Here is the information you need to provide for each song. I'm multiple screenshots here. My understanding is you don't need copyright office registration numbers. that's optional.

Next you add writers. You can add new ones. Or select ones they all have. Now one problem is there are three different versions of me. Two resolve to my account, but one has no IPI number. So who knows where that money goes. Oh you need your co-writers IPI numbers! 11/x

You add writer role. But you're shit out of luck if you're a lyricist. Not an option. Also why didn't they ask for writer percentages? Maybe they get to it in a later screen. 12/x