Answers/Glossary/Music Modernization Act
Glossary · Copyright
Music Modernization Act
The Music Modernization Act is United States legislation signed in October 2018 that created the blanket mechanical licence for digital streaming, established The MLC to administer it, brought pre-1972 sound recordings under federal law, and codified producer royalty payments.
The Music Modernization Act was signed into law on October 11, 2018, and it is the reason the US mechanical royalty system looks the way it does today. It bundled three separate reforms.
Title I — the Musical Works Modernization Act. Replaced the per-song notice system under Section 115 with a single blanket licence for interactive streaming and digital downloads, and created a collective to administer it. The US Copyright Office designated The MLC, which began operating the licence in January 2021. Digital services fund The MLC's operations, which is why membership is free to songwriters and why no commission is taken on payouts.
Title II — the Classics Protection and Access Act. Brought pre-1972 sound recordings, previously governed by a patchwork of state law, under federal protection with a staged schedule of expiry. Recordings first published before 1923 entered the public domain on January 1, 2022.
Title III — the AMP Act. Gave a statutory route for producers, mixers and engineers to receive a share of SoundExchange digital performance royalties through a letter of direction from the artist.
For an independent artist the practical upshot is one sentence: the MMA is why you can register a composition once, for free, at themlc.com, and have Spotify's US mechanical royalties find you.
The misunderstanding: assuming the MMA made the money automatic. It made the licence automatic. Matching still depends on a work registration existing, and the Act also provides that unclaimed accrued royalties are eventually distributed on a market-share basis — which is a strong argument for registering before release, not after.
Artist's summary of a statute worth reading at copyright.gov/music-modernization.
Related terms
- The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective)The MLC is the non-profit organisation designated under the Music Modernization Act to administer the United States blanket…
- Section 115Section 115 of the United States Copyright Act creates the compulsory mechanical licence for musical compositions.
- Mechanical royaltyA mechanical royalty is the money owed for reproducing a musical composition — copying the song itself, not the recording of it.
- Public domainPublic domain works are works whose copyright has expired or never existed, free for anyone to use without permission or payment.
Answers that use this term
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
Get the paperwork done in one afternoon
The Zero to Beat Society walks through registration, splits and release paperwork step by step — with the templates and checklists already filled in.
See the tiers