Mechanical Royalties Explained for Artists
For Artists
Mechanical royalties are payments earned when your composition is reproduced. Every stream, download, vinyl pressing, and cover version of your song generates a mechanical royalty, separate from what your distributor pays you. Most independent artists never register to collect them.
Your distributor sends you money from Spotify. You assume that is everything. It is not. Every stream also generates a mechanical royalty on the composition side, collected by a completely different organization. If you have never registered with The MLC, those payments have been piling up in a pool of unmatched money since your first release. After a holding period, they get redistributed to major publishers based on market share. Your money, someone else's pocket. This is one of the most overlooked revenue gaps for independent artists.
The foundational guide to Music Royalties Explained covers all six royalty types. This article goes deep on mechanicals specifically: where they come from, who collects them, how much they pay, and exactly how to register.
What Triggers a Mechanical Royalty
The word "mechanical" dates back to player pianos. A mechanical reproduction of a composition. The definition has expanded, but the principle is the same: any time your song is copied or reproduced in any format, the songwriter earns a mechanical royalty.
That includes:
Streams on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, and every other DSP
Permanent digital downloads (iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon)
Physical copies: CDs, vinyl, cassettes
Cover versions of your song recorded by other artists
Interactive music services where listeners choose what to play
Streaming is the big one. Every single stream generates a mechanical royalty. Across your full catalog, across every platform, across every country. The amounts are small per stream, but they compound.
Who Collects Mechanical Royalties
The MLC (US Digital Streaming)
The Mechanical Licensing Collective was created by the Music Modernization Act in 2018 and launched in 2021. It collects digital mechanical royalties from streaming platforms in the United States. Before The MLC existed, digital mechanicals were poorly tracked and massively underpaid. Billions of dollars went unmatched.
The MLC is the only entity that collects digital mechanical royalties from US streaming. Your PRO does not collect these. Your distributor does not collect these. There is no overlap. If you are not registered with The MLC, no one is collecting your digital mechanical royalties in the US.
For a deeper look at how The MLC works and its history, see the MLC Mechanical Licensing Collective guide.
Harry Fox Agency (Physical and Downloads)
HFA has historically administered mechanical licenses for physical products and downloads. If a label presses your song on CD or vinyl, or if it sells as a digital download, HFA often handles the mechanical license and royalty payment. For independent artists distributing digitally, The MLC is the more relevant entity.
International Collection Societies
Outside the US, local mechanical rights societies handle collection. MCPS in the UK, SDRM in France, GEMA in Germany (which handles both performance and mechanical rights). If your music streams internationally, these societies collect on the composition side in their territories. If you are self-published, a publishing administrator like Songtrust or CD Baby Pro can register your songs with international societies and collect on your behalf. Without either a publisher or an admin service, your international mechanical royalties may go uncollected.
How Much Mechanical Royalties Pay
Statutory Rate for Physical and Downloads
The US statutory mechanical rate for songs five minutes or under is 12.40 cents per copy. That applies to every CD pressed, every vinyl record manufactured, and every permanent digital download sold. For songs over five minutes, the rate is 2.39 cents per minute or fraction thereof.
Streaming Mechanical Rate
The streaming rate is not a fixed per-play amount. It is calculated through a formula based on the platform's total revenue, with rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board. As a practical benchmark:
Scenario | Estimated Mechanical Royalty |
|---|---|
100,000 Spotify streams | $60 - $80 |
500,000 Spotify streams | $300 - $400 |
1,000,000 Spotify streams | $600 - $800 |
These are rough ranges. The actual amount depends on listener geography, subscription tier, and the platform's total payout pool for that period. The point: mechanical royalties from streaming add roughly 15-25% on top of what your distributor already pays you. On the same streams. For free registration.
How to Register with The MLC
Go to themlc.com and create an account. You are registering as a "self-published songwriter" if you do not have a publishing deal.
Add your songs as "works." You need the song title, your songwriter name, your PRO affiliation, and your IPI number (found in your ASCAP or BMI account).
Match your works to recordings. The MLC uses ISRCs to connect your compositions to specific sound recordings on streaming platforms. Your ISRC is assigned by your distributor when you upload.
Confirm your ownership share. If you wrote the song alone, your share is 100%. If you co-wrote it, enter your agreed split percentage.
Total time: about 10 minutes for the account, plus a few minutes per song. If you have a large catalog, set aside an afternoon. The money waiting on the other side justifies the time.
Payment Timeline
The MLC pays quarterly, with a delay of roughly 3-6 months from when streams occur. If your song is streamed in January, you might see that payment in your MLC account between April and July. This lag is standard across royalty collection. Plan your finances around it.
Payment methods include direct deposit and PayPal. There is no minimum threshold to receive a payment.
Mechanical Royalties from Cover Songs
When another artist records and releases a cover of your song, they owe you a mechanical royalty for every reproduction. They need a mechanical license before releasing. The standard sources for that license are the Harry Fox Agency, Easy Song Licensing, or a service built into their distributor (DistroKid and others offer cover song licensing during upload).
If you are the original songwriter, you do not need to do anything special to earn these royalties beyond being registered with The MLC and your PRO. The cover artist pays the license fee, and the royalty flows to you through normal collection channels.
If you are the artist releasing a cover, see Cover Song Release Strategy for the full process.
Common Mistakes
Never registering with The MLC. The single biggest missed payment for independent artists. Free registration, real money sitting unclaimed.
Registering yourself but not your songs. Creating an MLC account does not automatically register your catalog. You need to add each song as a work with its metadata and ownership share. Without this step, The MLC cannot match incoming royalties to your music.
Assuming your PRO covers mechanicals. ASCAP and BMI collect performance royalties. The MLC collects mechanical royalties. These are separate organizations collecting separate royalty types from the same streams. You need both.
Ignoring international mechanicals. If you have listeners outside the US, your compositions generate mechanical royalties in those territories too. Without a publishing administrator handling international registrations, that money may go uncollected. Services like Songtrust and CD Baby Pro fill this gap for $50-$100/year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are mechanical royalties the same as streaming royalties?
No. Streaming royalties go to the master owner through your distributor. Mechanical royalties go to the songwriter through The MLC. Same stream, different copyrights, different payments.
Do I need a publisher to collect mechanical royalties?
No. Register directly with The MLC as a self-published songwriter. A publisher or admin service becomes useful for international collection and large catalogs.
How much are unclaimed mechanical royalties worth?
The MLC has distributed over $1 billion since launching. Hundreds of millions remain unmatched. If you have been releasing music since before 2021 and never registered, there may be payments waiting for you.
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Stay on Top of Your Registrations
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