The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and the Recording Academy have partnered on a 12-part webinar series aimed at the creative membership from the Recording Academy’s chapters and its new Songwriters & Composers Wing. The program serves to educate these sectors of the Academy on the importance of registering for the free new service, which aims to remunerate creators with the royalty payments they deserve.
In the series, each Recording Academy chapter (Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Pacific Northwest, Texas, Los Angeles, Florida, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.) will have the opportunity to meet with a representative from the newly operational MLC for an informative session including questions and answers from the local creative workforce, along with offer feedback.
The series kicked off on Tuesday, May 4, with a conversation between Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC, Jon Hornyak, Senior Executive Director of the Academy’s Memphis Chapter, and Vicki Loveland, singer, songwriter, and producer, and Vice President of the Memphis Chapter. The next edition will run on May 17 at 2 p.m. CT, with the Nashville Chapter. The MLC, which began operations in January, recently collected and made its inaugural royalty payment to songwriters, and will be paying out digital mechanical royalties every month.
To more fully speak to the needs of creators, a songwriter from each Academy Chapter will be involved in each session to provide webinar participants with the unique perspective of the types of creators The MLC serves and take additional questions.
“We are thrilled to work with the Academy on this webinar series, which builds on our ongoing efforts to reach as many potential MLC Members as possible, provide them with the information they need to join our organization and help position themselves to receive the digital audio mechanical royalties they have earned and deserve,” Ahrend said in a statement.
“Academy members were so active in passage of the Music Modernization Act, they should now benefit from The MLC that the Act created,” Daryl P. Friedman, Chief Advocacy Officer of the Recording Academy, declared in his own statement. We’re pleased to partner with The MLC to reach our membership of creators far and wide and ultimately get royalties into their hands.”
The series is sponsored by the Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing; the Recording Academy has long been involved in the process of establishing and launching The Mechanical Licensing Collective. Back in November 2020, hit songwriter and GRAMMY nominee Tayla Parx, Recording Academy Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason jr., Ahrend, and Friedman engaged in an informative conversation on the MLC.
The Academy has also regularly engaged with the U.S. Copyright Office to provide advice and input on the implementation of The MLC. In 2019, for example, the Academy filed comments to provide helpful criteria to better ensure The MLC database accurately works for all music makers—including producers—urging the Copyright Office to, "Clarify that a producer is someone who was part of the creative process that created a sound recording," when distributing and implementing its new regulations.
Also in 2019, two key Recording Academy representatives, Trustee Ivan Barias and the Advocacy office's Todd Dupler, appeared at the Copyright Office's Unclaimed Royalties Study Kickoff Symposium to speak up on behalf of music creators. The Academy has continued to participate in the ongoing study, with Dupler appearing at a March 2021 Copyright Office roundtable.
Academy Chapter members will receive an invitation with a registration link in advance of the date of their respective webinar. See below for the full series schedule.
Memphis Chapter
May 4, 11:30 a.m. CT
Nashville Chapter
May 17, 2 p.m. CT
Chicago Chapter
May 25, 11:30 a.m. CT
San Francisco Chapter
May 25, 5:30 p.m. PT
Philadelphia Chapter
May 26, 4 p.m. ET
Washington, D.C. Chapter
May 27, TIME TBD
New York Chapter
June 10, 3:30 p.m. ET
Pacific Northwest Chapter
June 15, 3 p.m. PT
Texas Chapter
June 16, 3:30 p.m. CT
Los Angeles Chapter
June 16, TIME TBD
Florida Chapter
June 23, 12:30 p.m. ET
Atlanta Chapter
July 29, 2 p.m. ET
