Month: January 2021

Written by Editor Charlie

Making Sense of the New Blanket Mechanical License and the Mechanical Licensing Collective #IRespectMusic

This post first appeared on MusicTech Solutions This is a recording of a webinar about the Mechanical Licensing Collective that I did with Abby North and Gwen Seale, sponsored by Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts, Austin Texas Musicians and Austin Music Foundation.   The webinar is from the point of view of self-published […]

Written by Chris Castle

How Songwriters Get Screwed by Cheese and Pies

For some reason, there’s a focus at the moment on songwriter royalties and in particular for streaming royalty rates.  Notice that I said “rates” not “share” or the one I find particularly irritating, “share of the pie.”  Let us be clear—there is no “pie” there are only “rates”.  Or should be.  Let’s investigate why. To frame this idea (speaking […]

Written by Chris Castle

When Do I Get Paid by The MLC?

Songwriters are beginning to realize that the government is forcing them to use The MLC, Inc. (financed by the streaming services) as their mechanical licensing collective for collecting and paying their mechanical royalties.  So now they are asking questions about when and how that payment is to be made, among other things. The over arching […]

Written by Chris Castle

Streaming and the Embarrassment of COVID Riches

We’re starting to see a narrative emerging from the digital music services in reaction to artists chafing under the misery of streaming royalties.  Streamers want lawmakers to focus attention on the allocation of current period revenue that they pay to creators and deflect attention from the company’s stock market valuation (or private company valuation).  That’s […]

Written by Chris Castle

Save the Date! January 14 at Noon CST, Zoom Panel with @musictechpolicy @northmusicgroup @sealeinthedeal for Independent Songwriters

I’m grateful to Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts, Austin Texas Musicians and the Austin Music Foundation for hosting an information webinar next week on the impact of the new blanket mechanical license under the Music Modernization Act on independent songwriters. We will also cover the nuts and bolts of dealing with The MLC, […]

Written by Chris Castle

Happy New License Availability Date!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind? Auld Lang Syne, by Robert Burns If you’ve gotten accustomed to regular mechanical royalty checks every month or quarter paid directly to you (or your publisher) by streaming services or for downloads like iTunes, fasten your seatbelt. You may have some surprises coming in this time […]