The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA), the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) and the Music Creators North America (MCNA) coalition –on behalf of over ten thousand US songwriter and composer members and their heirs and with the support of tens of thousands more represented by our organizations’ affiliated International Council of Music Creators (CIAM)– offer our sincerest thanks and support to US Congressman Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) for his stalwart efforts in seeking to protect our rights through much needed operational and structural improvements to the US Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). The MLC collects and distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties to songwriters and composers through their music publishing administrators each year.

Following the filing by our coalition in May, 2024 of comments expressing conditional support for re-designation by the US Copyright Office of the current MLC if –and only if– certain reforms are instituted to improve its transparency, operational fairness and accuracy in distributions (https://www.songwritersguild.com/site/potential-re-designation-mlc-and-dlc) Representative Fitzgerald came forward with his own letter to the Copyright Office dated August 29, 2024 asserting the need for reforms in full basic harmony with our own positions. His Congressional office is one of many with whom our groups have had impactful and productive discussions concerning the need for closer governmental oversight of the MLC process in order to protect American music creator rights, as clearly intended by Congress in the Music Modernization Act enacted five years ago.

Among the urgently required reforms addressed in Congressman Fitzgerald’s letter are:

–greater MLC budgetary transparency,

–improved outreach and accuracy in identifying and contacting owners of unmatched “black box” royalties (potentially approaching one billion dollars in unmatched and/or undistributed funds by 2025), and

–improved MLC board neutrality, balance and fairness.

As to this latter issue, the Congressman was forthright in acknowledging that the MLC board has conducted itself more as an advocate solely for the corporate music publishing industry rather than, as Congressionally intended, an unbiased body charged principally with protecting creator’ rights and royalties.

There are several problems related to the presence on the MLC board of only four songwriter/composer directors as compared to ten music publisher representatives (a unique imbalance compared to all other music royalty collectives around the world), including the fact that “permanently” unmatched royalties are to be distributed by the MLC on a “market share”
basis.

That construct means that music publisher board members stand to benefit by NOT properly identifying and distributing royalties to their actual creator-owners, the very task legislatively assigned to the MLC at the time of its Congressional creation. Moreover, the alleged songwriter organizations’ representative appointed as the non-voting board overseer for music creator interests has proven to be nothing more than a rubber stamp for corporate interests in direct opposition to the creators’ interests it purports to safeguard. We are aware of no other American music creator group that supports continuation of this facade of creator “representation.”

Our groups appreciate the consistent outreach and earnest work of MLC chief executive officer
Kris Ahrend, but we join Congressman Fitzgerald and his supporting colleagues in the House and Senate in insisting that the enumerated reforms cited in our Copyright Office submissions must be considered essential prerequisites to MLC re-designation (including endorsement by the MLC Board of Congressional action to equalize board representation between music creators on the one hand and their corporate copyright owners and administrators on the other). Our coalition will meanwhile continue its work on Capitol Hill and with the Copyright Office advocating for genuine protections of independent, individual music creator rights by the MLC.

Read Rep. Fitzgerald’s letter here.