If your songs are being streamed in the United States, streaming mechanical royalties are accruing for them — but they don’t reach you automatically. You have to register with The MLC (The Mechanical Licensing Collective) and match your works. The good news is that registering with The MLC is free, and the process is something a self-published artist can complete without hiring anyone.

This guide walks through the registration process step by step, what information you’ll need, and the common mistakes that leave money unmatched. For a broader picture of which royalty pools you might be missing beyond mechanicals, run the Publishing Royalty Recovery Diagnostic.

What the MLC does, in one paragraph

The MLC collects and distributes US streaming and download mechanical royalties on the composition side — the song, not the recording. It receives royalties and usage data from the streaming services, matches that data to registered compositions, and pays the songwriters and publishers who own them. If you’ve never registered, your works can’t be matched, and the mechanicals sit unclaimed. For the underlying concept, see What Are Mechanical Royalties?.

Before you start: what you’ll need

Gather this information before you begin, because the registration asks for it:

  • Your songwriter and publisher details. Even if you’ve never signed a publishing deal, you self-publish, so you may be registering in both capacities. The distinction matters — see Songwriter Share vs. Publisher Share.
  • Your PRO affiliation and any IPI/CAE number. If you’ve affiliated with a PRO as a writer, you’ll have an identifier the MLC can use to line up your records.
  • A list of your compositions. Titles, co-writers, and the splits for each song (who wrote what percentage).
  • Your recordings’ identifiers where you have them (such as ISRCs), which help the MLC match streams to the right composition.

Having clean, consistent metadata makes matching far more reliable. We explain why in Music Metadata: Why It Decides Who Gets Paid.

Step by step

The exact screens change over time, but the shape of the process is stable:

  1. Create your account. Register as a member. If you’re a self-published writer, you’ll typically set yourself up to collect both the writer and publisher portions.
  2. Confirm your identity and payment details. You provide the information needed for the MLC to verify you and pay you.
  3. Register your works. Add each composition with its co-writers and the agreed splits. Accuracy here is everything — the splits you enter determine how the money is divided.
  4. Match your recordings to your compositions. The MLC provides tools to claim and match recordings (often via ISRCs) to the right songs, so streams are attributed correctly.
  5. Review unmatched and conflicting works. Check for songs that haven’t matched or where another party has also claimed a share, and resolve them.
  6. Keep it current. Every time you release new music, register the new works. Registration isn’t one-and-done.

Getting your splits right

The most consequential part of registration is the splits. If you co-wrote a song, every writer’s percentage needs to be entered consistently by everyone involved, and the percentages need to add up correctly. Mismatched or conflicting splits are a leading cause of delayed or unmatched royalties.

The cleanest way to avoid trouble is to agree splits at the session, in writing, before anyone registers anything. That’s the entire point of a split sheet — see Split Sheets: Why Every Session Needs One and the broader How to Split Songwriting Royalties Fairly.

Common mistakes that cost you money

  • Never registering at all. The most expensive mistake. Unregistered works can’t be matched.
  • Registering the writer share but not the publisher share. Self-published writers need to capture both; missing the publisher portion leaves money behind.
  • Inconsistent metadata. Different spellings, missing co-writers, or absent identifiers make matching fail.
  • Forgetting new releases. Each new song needs its own registration.
  • Assuming your distributor or PRO already did it. The MLC is a separate registration. Your distributor handles the recording side; your PRO handles performance royalties. Mechanicals via The MLC are distinct — see MLC vs. SoundExchange.

What the MLC does not cover

Registering with The MLC is necessary but not sufficient. It does not collect:

  • Performance royalties on the composition — those come from PROs.
  • Recording-side digital performance royalties — those come from SoundExchange.
  • Most international royalties — collected by foreign societies, often requiring an administrator.

For the full map of every pool a self-released artist should chase, see the Unclaimed Publishing Royalties Guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is registering with The MLC really free? Yes. Registering with The MLC is free. You don’t need to pay a third party just to access the streaming mechanicals it collects on your behalf.

Do I need to register if I already have a distributor? Generally yes. Your distributor handles the recording-side revenue; The MLC handles composition-side streaming mechanicals. They’re separate, and one doesn’t substitute for the other.

Can I register if I co-wrote my songs with other people? Yes — but every co-writer’s split needs to be entered accurately and consistently. Agreeing splits in writing first (a split sheet) prevents most conflicts.

Will The MLC collect my international mechanicals? No. The MLC focuses on US mechanicals. Foreign mechanicals are collected by other societies; see How to Collect Your International Royalties.

What happens to mechanicals I never claim? Unmatched amounts can sit unclaimed and may eventually be handled as “black box” money, distributed by formula rather than to you. Registering is how you avoid that — see Black Box Royalties.

Estimates are for informational purposes only and are not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. For a range based on your own numbers, try the Publishing Royalty Recovery Diagnostic.