Mechanical royalties: what songwriters should check

Separate the song from the master

A songwriter can have an interest in a composition while another person controls the recording. Receiving recording income through a distributor does not tell you that the composition’s mechanical income has also been collected. A producer’s recording-income percentage is not automatically a songwriting share. Keep the agreements and statements separate.

Map the income route

1. Identify the musical work, writers and agreed ownership shares.
2. List who administers each share and in which territories. This might be a publisher, administrator or relevant society under its mandate.
3. Describe the uses: interactive streaming, downloads and physical copies are not interchangeable accounting categories.
4. Ask who licenses and reports each use, and who should receive the related composition income.
5. Record registration references and check for conflicts with existing representation before making new claims.

A specific US example: The MLC

The Mechanical Licensing Collective administers blanket mechanical licences for eligible US streaming and download services and pays the relevant musical-work rightsholders. It does not collect recording royalties, public-performance royalties or sync income under that mandate. The arrangement concerns US uses; it is not a worldwide collection solution.

An example without a guessed per-stream rate

A band writes a song together and distributes its own recording. The band keeps one file for composition shares and representation, and another for the master’s distribution and collaborator payouts. When statements arrive, they compare the relevant use periods and sources separately. They do not multiply the stream counter by an assumed universal mechanical rate or expect both statements to arrive together.

When information does not match

• Check title variations, writer names, work registration references and the recording’s ISRC where relevant.
• Ask the organisation handling the income whether the work is registered and whether the correct share is represented.
• For a duplicate or disputed claim, retain the agreements and contact the parties responsible. Do not claim somebody else’s share just to make the total reach 100%.
• Keep the usage period distinct from the date money was received; reporting and matching can occur later.

DistroBolt’s role

Use DistroBolt royalty reporting for recording-side reports and royalty splits for agreed recording-income allocation. This page does not confirm a DistroBolt publishing-administration or mechanical-collection mandate. Ask which services are covered by your actual agreement; distribution is not a substitute for checking composition representation.