Category: Copyright Office Redesignate the MLC, Inc.

@WordsByKristin: With the MLC’s Re-Designation Underway, Streamers and Publishers Clash Over Its Future #TheReup

On Mar. 6, the Digital Media Association’s (DiMA) new president/CEO, Graham Davies, published a blog post calling the five-year anniversary of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) a “key moment to course-correct.” In the process, he suggested the Mechanical Licensing Collective has “gone beyond its remit” in collecting and administering the blanket mechanical license in the United States.

On Monday (Mar. 18), the National Music Publishing Association (NMPA) responded to the letter in an email sent to members, in which it said DiMA’s “calls for change” were not “a good faith effort to make the MLC more effective and transparent.”

Read the post by Kristin Robinson on Billboard

[Editor Charlie sez: Drama in the Imperial City–two completely out of touch trade associations who have never humped a trap case burn cycles over who is smarter and better looking. Could they be sticking to their knitting on making sure there’s never another remand? Nah…there’s no legal fees in that.]

Better than Cats: The Copyright Office Seeks Public Comment on Periodic Review of the Designations of the Mechanical Licensing Collective and Digital Licensee Coordinator aka #TheReup

Now belay all that loose talk about the mailbox equivalence between dropping a hot potato the Friday before a long weekend and the 3:17 am the Tuesday of Grammy Week. It was supposed to come in January…at the last minute of the last hour…etc. And so it did.

As ARW readers will recall, both the public and both the MLC and the DLC are allowed to offer critiques of how The MLC, ,Inc., the private company backed by the lobbyists that the Copyright Office “designated” or awarded an nine-figure government contract. In case you missed it, that decision was made in 2019–this is the Reup (h/t to Eminem).

We’ll be coming back to this, but here is a copy of the public notice from the Copyright Office welcoming your comments about your experiences with the MLC or any efforts you’ve made to seek assistance from the Copyright Office in their oversight role as designated by Congress.

The Reup Copyright Office MLCDownload

The comment period in this vitally important review is divided into at least two parts: The special people, i.e., The MLC, Inc. quango and the DLC get to go first, and then the hoi polloi (that’s you and me). You’ll find this language buried at the very bottom of the Reup notice:

Interested members of the public are encouraged to comment on the topics addressed in the designees’ [i.e., the DLC or the MLC’s] submissions or raised by the Office in this notification of inquiry. Commenters may also address any topics relevant to this periodic review of the MLC and DLC designations. Without prejudice to its review of the current designations, the Office hopes that this proceeding will serve as an opportunity for any songwriter, publisher, or DMP who wishes to express concerns, satisfaction, or priorities with respect to the administration of the MMA’s blanket licensing regime to do so, and that any designated MLC or DLC will use that feedback to continually improve its services.

I am biting my tounge, but don’t think I’m not thinking it.