---
title: Does The MLC collect songwriter performance royalties?
publisher: RapCanon
canonical: https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/mlc-pro_perf/
license: CC-BY-4.0
retrieved: 2026-08-13
---

> No. Explicit: The MLC does not administer performance rights or collect performance royalties.

Royalty coverage

 
# Does The MLC collect songwriter performance royalties?

 
 
Does not

 
Explicit: The MLC does not administer performance rights or collect performance royalties.

 
 
What this stream is. Paid when the composition is performed or broadcast. Split into a writer share and a publisher share, and those two halves can be collected by different parties.

 Worth knowing about The MLC - ★ It is genuinely FREE and takes NO commission. Its costs are funded by the DSPs through an assessment set by the Copyright Royalty Board, so 100% of collected royalties pass through. There is no financial reason not to join, and the only cost of inaction is the money itself.
- The mirror image of the PRO trap: The MLC pays no performance royalties at all.
- US ONLY. An artist with global streams who thinks MLC membership covers worldwide mechanicals is wrong.
- Registering with a DSP or a distributor does NOT trigger MLC payment. The only route is membership, or authorising a publisher or administrator to collect for you.
- ★ Unmatched royalties are held about three years, then distributed to publishers on a MARKET SHARE basis. Unregistered independent money ends up with major publishers.
 
 
Read from The MLC's own documentation on 2026-08-13. Check it yourself — and if it has changed, tell us.

 
See the full matrix for all 16 organisations →

---

## How to cite this page

**APA**
RapCanon. (2026). Does The MLC collect songwriter performance royalties?. Retrieved from https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/mlc-pro_perf/

**BibTeX**
```bibtex
@misc{rapcanon-tools-royalty-coverage-mlc-pro-perf,
  title  = {Does The MLC collect songwriter performance royalties?},
  author = {{RapCanon}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/mlc-pro_perf/},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-08-13}
}
```

**Wikipedia**
```
{{cite web |title=Does The MLC collect songwriter performance royalties? |url=https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/mlc-pro_perf/ |publisher=RapCanon |access-date=2026-08-13}}
```

Licensed CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution and a link back.
Canonical HTML: https://rapcanon.com/tools/royalty-coverage/mlc-pro_perf/