Mechanical Royalties Explained: What They Are and How to Collect Them

If your songs are streaming, you may be leaving money uncollected. The payments from your distributor are only part of what those plays can earn. A second payment, called a mechanical royalty, comes from the same streams, but it travels a different route and usually doesn’t arrive unless you set it up. This guide covers what mechanical royalties are, who is owed them, and how to claim yours.

Two Copyrights, Two Kinds of Pay

Every song carries two separate copyrights. One covers the sound recording, the specific recorded performance you can hear. The other covers the composition, meaning the music and lyrics as written.

Mechanical royalties are payments for reproductions of the composition. That includes physical copies, downloads, and “interactive, on-demand” streams, where a listener picks the song they want to hear instead of tuning in to a broadcast.

A single stream on Spotify or Apple Music can set off more than one payment:

• Recording royalties are for the use of the sound recording. If you release through CD Baby, these are paid to you automatically.
• Mechanical royalties are for the reproduction of the composition.
• Performance royalties are also tied to the composition, and they come from public performance.

Each of these has its own collection path. Getting paid by your distributor doesn’t mean the composition side has been taken care of. Mechanicals normally go to the songwriters, the publisher, or both. On a co-written song, each writer’s cut follows the agreed songwriting splits, which are the percentages the writers settle on for who owns what.

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Why “Mechanical”?

The name is a leftover from an era when machines did the reproducing. In the early 1900s, player pianos played compositions from perforated paper rolls. The 1909 Copyright Act in the U.S. created a compulsory mechanical license. Under it, certain reproductions of a composition are allowed as long as the license requirements are met.

The terminology outlived the technology. As music went from piano rolls to records, CDs, downloads, and streams, the label “mechanical” stayed attached to the royalty for reproducing a composition.

Who Is Owed Mechanical Royalties?

The money belongs to whoever owns or administers rights in the composition. That can include:

• Songwriters, composers, and lyricists
• Music publishers
• Publishing administrators
• Other holders of composition rights

If you wrote a song and own it, the mechanical royalties are yours. If you co-wrote it, you’re generally owed your agreed share.

Recording someone else’s song works differently. The original songwriters and the other composition rights holders are generally the ones owed mechanicals for that song. Your cover can still earn sound recording royalties through your distributor, but that’s a separate copyright with a separate payment.

Metadata decides whether you get paid

Collection organizations match reported uses to the right people and the right works. They do that by relying on data: song titles, writer names, ownership shares, and similar details. If your information is wrong or inconsistent, a stream may not be matched to you.

Before you release anything, double-check your track metadata. After release, keep it accurate and consistent across your distributor and any royalty collection accounts you hold.

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How to Collect Your Mechanical Royalties

In the U.S., the organization to know is The Mechanical Licensing Collective, usually shortened to The MLC. It administers blanket mechanical licenses for eligible streaming and download services such as Spotify and Apple Music. A blanket license covers a service’s use of songs in bulk, so the service doesn’t have to negotiate song by song. The platforms report how songs were used and pay royalties to The MLC. The MLC then pays registered members accordingly.

That last part matters: you have to be registered to get paid. If you’re a CD Baby artist, the simplest route is the add-on service CDB Boost, which registers your music with The MLC.

What CDB Boost covers

Keep the limits in mind. CDB Boost collects mechanical royalties through The MLC for eligible U.S. streaming uses. Songwriters anywhere in the world can use it, but it does not include global mechanical royalty collection.

If a lot of your streams come from outside the U.S., consider a global music publishing administrator such as Songtrust. These companies handle collection in more territories than The MLC does.

Quick Answers to Common Questions

Does my distributor’s streaming payment already include mechanicals? No. Your distributor pays the sound recording share. Mechanicals belong to the composition and are collected through a different system. In the U.S., eligible digital mechanicals go through The MLC, and CD Baby artists can collect them with CDB Boost.

Does The MLC collect worldwide? No. It administers mechanical licenses for eligible streaming and download services in the United States. Songwriters based outside the U.S. can still be paid for use on U.S. services, but uses in other countries may need other collection arrangements.

I recorded a cover. Do I earn mechanicals? Generally, no. When a song is reproduced or streamed, the original songwriters and publishers are owed the mechanical royalties. As the cover artist, you may earn royalties for your sound recording, which is its own copyright and its own payment.

Do mechanicals cover radio play and live shows? No, those are performance royalties. Public performances of a composition, including many radio broadcasts and live gigs, can generate them. In the U.S., songwriters generally collect performance royalties through a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC.

Making Sure Your Songs Get Matched

Matching problems are the most likely reason royalties go missing, so a little housekeeping helps:

1. Keep your song data current. Titles, writer names, ownership shares, and other registration details should read the same everywhere.
2. Agree on splits with your co-writers. Confirm the percentages with your collaborators before registering anything, so everyone’s records line up.
3. Review your accounts and statements. Look for songs that are missing or unmatched, and fix them when you find them.

Putting It Into Practice

Your streams may be earning composition money that no one is collecting for you. If you’re a CD Baby artist, sign in to your account and add CDB Boost to your upcoming or existing releases. That puts your U.S. mechanical royalties on The MLC’s radar. If you have a large audience abroad, look at a global publishing administrator too. Whichever route you choose, clean metadata and agreed splits will help the money reach you.

Sources

Everything you need to know about mechanical royalties, diymusician.cdbaby.com