There is no doubt about it. The music industry has changed drastically in the past few years. With the advent of streaming platforms most people do not consume content the “traditional” way. Many people around the globe have ditched watching regularly scheduled television and many have gotten rid of their cable as well. So… what does that mean for music and film content creators?

The mechanisms in place to collect royalties on behalf of the publishing entities, writers, and filmmakers have not been able to keep up with the incredibly rapid pace of change in our industry. In fact, until recently the laws governing this type of collection were about 100 years old! Think about it. These laws date back to the time Henry Ford release the Model A. However, after A LOT of hard work things are beginning to change.

Organizations like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR have been lobbying Washington for years, trying to bring legislation concerning music royalty collection into the 21st century. Like these groups, Creatia works on your behalf to ensure you receive fair compensation for your creative work. The adoption of the Music Modernization Act in 2018 is a major step in the right direction. If you are unfamiliar with this piece of legislation take a look at this FAQ page. It has some great bullet points outlining the broad strokes of what the Music Modernization Act does and what it means for you as a music writer and content creator.

One of the amazing things that this law brought about was a historically unmatched sum of money to be paid out for royalties. On February 16, 2021 The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) received $424 million from digital service providers! Incredible right?! This sum is to be paid out for music placements that were previously undervalued on digital platforms. At Creatia, we know the revenue from royalties is of paramount value to music composers. Our goal is to help musicians and composers create music full-time. This is only possible through a steady stream of income generated through royalties. If you have music in the Creatia catalog we have already re-processed and registered your work with The MLC. Super easy huh?! We’ve got your back.

Creatia would love to publish all the compositions you are working on. Helping your music reach a wider audience is after all a large part of our philosophy. However, we know that many composers have works published with other entities. If you have work that has been self-published or work that was not published by Creatia it is your responsibility to ensure that you are receiving all royalties your hard work is earning. Contact the publisher your work is placed with and make sure they are planning to register with The MLC. If you have work that is self-published you can register your publishing entity at The MLC’s website.

The process of accumulating data about underpaid royalties is going to take some time, but be patient. The MLC database is growing everyday. They have already collected over  1.3 terabytes of data and nine billion lines of data. That’s quite a bit of information to sift through. The U.S. Copyright Offices are giving Digital service providers until June of 2021 to release the rest of their data to The MLC.

As of now, there is no date set for the first release of royalty funds. At Creatia, we are all ecstatic at the great strides our industry has made in achieving fair income on royalties in the new digital streaming marketplace. We will continue to update you on information about this historic event, but you should also take advantage of the resource The MLC is offering.

As always, if there is any new music you’d like to submit to Creatia you can send it through our online portal. If you have worked with us in the past and have a Creatia Music Rep feel free to reach out to us directly. We are always excited to hear the great new music you guys come up with! For inspiration take a look through our music catalog and see what new music we have to offer.