🎼 📝What Are BMI and The MLC?Understanding Performance and Mechanical Royalties That DistroKid Doesn’t Collect—and How Music Copyright Works🇺🇸

Introduction

My name is Jun OKUNO, and I am a music producer and songwriter based in Tokyo.
Recently, I completed my official registration with both BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) and The MLC (The Mechanical Licensing Collective)—two key organizations that manage and distribute songwriting royalties in the United States.

If you're distributing your music via DistroKid, TuneCore, or any other digital distributor, and your tracks are available on platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, you might assume that you're collecting all possible revenue from your music.
However, the reality is more complex.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how royalty structures work in the U.S., why registering with both BMI and The MLC is essential for songwriters, and how relying on a distributor alone can leave a significant portion of your royalties uncollected.

Whether you’re based in the U.S. or abroad, understanding these systems is crucial for any independent artist who writes their own music and wants to build a sustainable creative career.

1. What Are Performance Royalties?

Performance royalties are paid when your song is publicly performed or broadcast—whether it’s played on the radio, in a café, streamed on Spotify, or performed live.
These royalties are owed to the songwriter and composer, not the recording artist or label (unless you happen to be all three).

In the U.S., organizations like BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC are responsible for collecting and distributing performance royalties.
Outside the U.S., this role is handled by local PROs like JASRAC (Japan), PRS (UK), or SACEM (France).

Even when a song is streamed on Spotify, performance royalties are generated. However, Spotify doesn’t pay them to your distributor.
Instead, Spotify pays PROs like BMI directly, and only registered members can receive their share.

If you're not registered with a PRO like BMI, you're not collecting your performance royalties—even if they’ve been paid on your behalf.

2. What Are Mechanical Royalties?

Mechanical royalties are paid when your song is reproduced or distributed—for example, via downloads, CDs, vinyl, or digital streaming.
Yes, even a Spotify stream generates mechanical royalties in the U.S.

Historically, mechanical royalties were hard to track and distribute. But since 2021, the U.S. government has authorized The MLC (The Mechanical Licensing Collective) to administer these royalties for interactive streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more.

The MLC only pays royalties to songwriters and publishers who have registered.
Your distributor (like DistroKid or TuneCore) does not collect these royalties on your behalf unless you’ve explicitly enrolled in their separate publishing administration service (which many artists overlook).

Also important: The MLC only covers mechanical royalties for U.S.-based streaming activity.
Streams outside the U.S. may be handled by foreign collection societies—but there’s no guarantee of full recovery unless you’ve properly registered with those as well.

3. DistroKid Is Not Enough: Understanding the Flow of Royalties

It’s a common misunderstanding:

Unfortunately, no. Here's how it actually works:

💡 Spotify (and other DSPs) generate three types of royalties per stream:

1. Master recording royalties → paid to the distributor (e.g. DistroKid)

2. Performance royalties → paid to a PRO (e.g. BMI)

3. Mechanical royalties → paid to The MLC

Let’s break down the roles:

🎧 Digital Platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

They trigger all three royalty types.

🚚 Distributors (DistroKid, TuneCore, etc.)

They collect only the royalties tied to the master recording (1).
They do not collect performance or mechanical royalties unless you opt into their publishing admin services (which often take a large cut).

🏛 Copyright Organizations

• BMI collects and pays performance royalties to registered songwriters and composers.

• The MLC collects and pays mechanical royalties for U.S.-based streams.

Unless you are registered with both, you are leaving money on the table—money that has already been paid by Spotify but is sitting unclaimed.

4. Why I Registered with BMI and The MLC

As an independent songwriter distributing music globally via DistroKid, I realized that only part of my royalties were being collected—specifically, only the master recording royalties.

Everything else—performance royalties and mechanical royalties—would go unclaimed unless I acted.
That’s why I registered with:

• BMI as a songwriter (IPI: 01299495678)

• The MLC with my songwriter details and catalog

Both registrations were free, straightforward, and—most importantly—necessary.

5. Additional Considerations

• YouTube revenue (Content ID) is not handled by BMI or The MLC.
  You’ll need services like Identifyy or AdRev for that.

• Neighboring rights (for performers and master owners) are handled by different organizations, such as SoundExchange in the U.S. or NexTone in Japan.

• If your music is streamed outside the U.S., BMI may collect some performance royalties via international partners—but mechanical royalties from outside the U.S. may be harder to recover without additional registrations.

Conclusion

Distributing your music globally is easier than ever. But collecting what you're owed as a songwriter? That still takes knowledge, structure, and action.

Registering with BMI and The MLC is not an advanced business move—it’s the bare minimum if you want to collect what you’re already earning.
The money exists. But you have to claim it.

For independent artists who write their own music, understanding and managing copyright isn’t about “being professional”—it’s about not leaking revenue you’ve already worked for.

Registration Info

• BMI IPI Number: 01299495678

• The MLC: Registered songwriter member

Resources

• BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.)
  https://www.bmi.com/

• The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective)
  https://www.themlc.com/

• DistroKid – Royalties & Payments Guide
  https://support.distrokid.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013534293

• Identifyy (YouTube Content ID)
  https://www.identifyy.com/

• SoundExchange (Neighboring Rights)
  https://www.soundexchange.com/

Thank you for reading to the end. If you like, please follow me. I would be happy to receive your comments.

If you're interested in Jun Okuno's music, please give it a listen!