The Mechanical Licensing Collective + Blokur = More $$$ for music publishers
Blokur has been announced as an approved partner of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC)’s Data Quality Initiative
It’s no great secret that music-makers — those songwriters, artists, performers, creators whose music brings us joy, inspiration, emotional connection, whose music is the backdrop to our daily lives — face a struggle to make a living from their art. And if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you will know by now that Blokur exists to help musicians and music companies get paid what they should, when they should.
So we’re very pleased to let you know that Blokur has been announced as an official partner of the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s Data Quality Initiative, to help music publishers and songwriters make sure they get their share of royalties from streaming in the United States.
What’s the MLC?
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (or MLC) is a new CMO that will be responsible for administering the new blanket compulsory license for the use of musical works by digital music services from January 2021. In the organisation’s own words, it “will strive to ensure songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers receive mechanical royalties from streaming and download services (DSPs) in the United States”.
Why does the Data Quality Initiative matter?
Partnering with the MLC on the Data Quality Initiative (or DQI) means that Blokur will be able to verify for our clients that their songs are properly represented in the MLC database, making sure that when their songs are used on US streaming services, they get paid for it. As Phil Barry, Blokur’s founder, put it in the official announcement:
“Blokur exists to help music publishers and songwriters get paid what they should, when they should. We’re delighted to partner with The MLC to further this purpose by helping our client base of major and independent publishers to verify that their copyrights are accurately represented in The MLC database and to help ensure a successful launch for The MLC next year.”
What’s special about Blokur?
Blokur’s global copyright database, which covers the majority of commercial music, combined with our unique matching technology, makes us ideally placed to help publishers get the best possible results out of the DQI and — crucially — to resolve any issues that are identified in the process painlessly.
The DQI tests we have carried out for our publishing clients already reveal how Blokur’s rich song database and unique graph-based matching technology allow us to surface inconsistencies and duplicates that might otherwise go unnoticed. That means our clients and their songwriters can rest assured that their songs are accurately registered, and that the revenues flowing through to them as a result are present and correct.
And we don’t stop at identifying problems in the data. We help to fix them too. Our system prioritises data issues identified through the DQI process based on revenue importance, to make sure that your energy is focussed where it has the most impact. And we generate fix files automatically so that the MLC database can be updated with the correct information.
Want to know more?
Curious to know more about how Blokur can help you verify that your songs are properly represented in the MLC database and get paid what you are owed from US streaming? Just drop us a line at pj [at] blokur [dot] com, or get in touch via Blokur’s website.
Silvia Montello is Head of Business Development at Blokur, having previously managed the global digital supply chains for Kobalt/AWAL and BMG.
To find out more about Blokur, or sign up for a free account for Blokur’s copyright platform, which identifies and resolves data conflicts on a global basis, visit our website at www.blokur.com
