What is a Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC)?

The Mechanical Licensing Collective, commonly called the MLC, is an organization in the United States that administers and distributes mechanical royalties for musical compositions used on digital streaming services.

The MLC was created under the Music Modernization Act (MMA) of 2018 to simplify the licensing process for digital music platforms such as streaming services. It provides a centralized system where these services can obtain blanket mechanical licenses to legally stream musical compositions.

The organization collects mechanical royalties from streaming platforms and distributes them to songwriters, composers, and music publishers based on usage data. By managing this process, the MLC helps ensure that creators are properly compensated when their compositions are streamed on digital platforms.