The MLC Has Distributed $3bn+ To Songwriters And Publishers To Date
“The MLC has become the largest single source of U.S. digital revenue for songwriters and publishers — distributing more than $3 billion in royalties since launching operations, at no cost to our Members.” – Alisa Coleman, The MLC
Music Business Worldwide reported that The MLC has “confirmed that it has exceeded $3 billion in royalties distributed to publishers and songwriters since launching full operations in 2021.”
I’m proud to work with a team of talented and passionate people at The MLC who care deeply about getting songwriters and music publishers paid. And I am also proud to support music rights and royalty tech founders who invest endless hours and limited resources to create a positive impact on the livelihoods of their customers — the world’s independent music creators.
Prior to joining The MLC, exactly 10 years ago this month in October 2015, I founded several startups to address the “black box” issue, including TuneRegistry (with co-founders Jesse Morris, Kara Lorraine McGehee, and Shane Zilinskas), which enabled music creators to, for the first time, fully control the administration of their songs and recordings in the United States, and a year later in October 2016, I founded RoyaltyClaim, which innovated the Section 115 NOI (compulsory mechanical license) lookup and rightsholder notification process and was the world’s first multi-territory search engine of unclaimed music royalties.
At the time, there were no society-backed public data feeds or relevant APIs that enabled music rights and royalty tech companies to access transparent data regarding song ownership, share claims, unmatched recordings, and unclaimed royalties making it nearly impossible for founders to build robust solutions to support songwriters and publishers with royalty forensics, catalog reconciliation, and identifying and resolving issues that lead to unclaimed royalties. And there were few societies with departments dedicated to engaging with tech founders who dared to invest in these pursuits.
Today, I am proud to say that The MLC has changed that. As an organization with a department dedicated to interacting with and supporting music rights and royalty tech companies, we have empowered hundreds of companies around the world with unprecedent access to data that has informed business decisions and fueled the creation of new features that help their customers get paid.
As a former music rights and royalty tech founder myself, I couldn’t be prouder to head that department, to manage data programs and strategic outreach efforts, and to interact with and support hundreds of founders around the world who’s collective efforts has contributed to The MLC reaching this breakthrough milestone of $3Bn in royalties distributed.
To all of the music rights and royalty tech founders out there who have called on my team, met with me, invited me to set in hundreds of hours of demos and strategy sessions over the past 5 years, this is a special shoutout and thank you to you for being the innovators effecting change on the ground!
Dae Bogan Celebrates 5 Years of Service at The Mechanical Licensing Collective
It has been an honor to work with a passionate group of professionals to do the seemingly impossible in such a short period of time. In just 5 years, we’ve conceptualized, built, launched and expanded The Mechanical Licensing Collective to fulfill the mandate of the Music Modernization Act of 2018 and have paid out more than $3 Billion in royalties to music creators and rights-holders around the world.
I’ve had the honor of collaborating with some of the smartest people in the music rights sector to blend my passion for problem-solving, innovation and technology, education and advocacy to develop initiatives and industry-leading resources to empower music creators and other stakeholders to unlock black box royalties. I am grateful to be able to work fully within my passion and skillsets every day to affect change that directly impacts the livelihoods of music creators around the world.
In my role as Head of Third-Party Partnerships, I lead the Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP) initiative connecting 114 music distributors in over 20 countries with one of the most important music rights datasets related to US digital streaming royalties, oversee a team across Latin America through the Radar initiative to locate and educate self-published songwriters and composers about their rights and entitlements in the US, and provide strategic support and guidance to the more than 500 companies around the world that access The MLC’s data through our data programs.
In 2020, The MLC was a developing concept. Today, we are a Music Business Association’s 2024 Impact Award for Technological Excellence recipient and a Fast Company’s 2025 Most Innovative Companies. And for my part, I was honored to be the recipient of a 2024 Bizzy Award for the Maestro of Metadata.
As I look ahead to the next 5 years of service, I’m looking forward to contributing to effect our mission to serve and pay our members the royalties they have earned.
Here’s to 5 years! 🥂
10 Years Ago Dubset (And I) Wanted Rights-holders To Be Friendlier To DJs…10 Years Later Apple Music Is Making It Possible
Ten years ago, I wrote a piece for Hypebot (posted at the end) announcing the Mix Transparency Report by Dubset (acquired by Pex).
At the time, Dubset, a new startup, wanted to help DJs legally release, distribute, and monetize mixed music (i.e. remixes, mashups, mixes, etc.), and get artists, songwriters, and rights-holders paid. However, there was a ton of resistance amongst rights-holders to what I thought was a great idea. I was biased since I had once managed a roster of DJs who specialized in mash-ups.
The Mix Transparency Report set out a new standard for charting the consumption of mixed music while shinning a light on the commercial opportunities that existed for rights-holders and content creators of derivative works (e.g. DJs, producers, remixers).
(Side Note: Last year, I created the “Beats & Money: A Music Rights & Royalties Crash Course for Beatmakers” webinar for The Mechanical Licensing Collective with support by Chris McMurtry of Pex/RME which you can watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/8ZoPRmJFt-Q.)
Dubset wanted to locate the most popular mixed music in the world, thoroughly analyze it, and share its findings every month. The report would offer full transparency with regards to the “who” and “what” was being listened to (often royalty-free) by millions of music fans a day. Initially, the Dubset report included four charts: Dubset’s 25 Most Sampled Labels, Dubset’s 25 Most Streamed Mixes, Dubset’s 25 Most Sampled Artists, and Dubset’s 25 Most Sampled Tracks.
Recently, Apple announced it is opening its catalog to let users build mix sets by integrating the platform with a number of tools. These tools include Algoriddim’s djay Pro software, hardware platforms AlphaTheta, Serato, inMusic’s Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark, and RANE DJ.
(Fun Fact: I was once an advisor to a startup that built a software and hardware for DJs that would be installed between the controller and the sound system. If the controller experienced an outage during a live set, the device would kick in and algorithmically continue the DJ set until the controller was back up and running and the DJ could do his or her thing. Having been both a club promoter and DJ manager in Los Angeles in my early 20’s, I knew it was solution was to a real problem that I’ve witnessed many times, but of course they were “too early.”)
TechCrunch believes the integrations will possibly attract DJs to explore Apple Music’s catalog of over 100 million songs and also give aspiring DJs an opportunity to play around with some of these tools. It’s great to see DSPs engage more meaningfully with DJs. This has been a long time coming, only slowed by rights-holders inability to work with companies like Dubset to figure out the licensing splits.
That Hypebot piece: https://daeboganmusic.com/2015/11/11/hypebot-dubset-releases-inaugural-mix-transparency-report-atlantic-records-david-guetta-most-sampled/
Radar – Data-driven Grassroots Outreach In Latin America
I am thrilled to announce that after nearly 3 years of building relationships across Latin America, collaborating with local creator rights’ advocates, learning about some of the challenges affecting the flow of royalties in various regions, and educating songwriters, I am launching a dedicated team to support The Mechanical Licensing Collective’s mission to ensure songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers in Latin America receive their mechanical royalties from streaming and download services in the U.S. accurately and on time.
RADAR is a data analytics and research platform that has already helped us identify songwriters who are self-published and potentially unaffiliated with their local CMO. Through culturally-relevant resources we are educating songwriters who may have royalties on hold at The MLC about their rights and their options for collecting their money such as joining their local CMO (an MLC member), hiring a publishing administrator (an MLC member), or, if it makes sense for their careers, to pursue direct membership. It is the songwriter’s choice within the framework of their local laws.
After a successful pilot in Colombia last year we are expanding across LATAM with team members in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
Welcome Daniela Arévalo Fernández (Mexico), Maria Ramirez (Colombia), Matías Bagato (Argentina), Renato Martini Martins (Brazil), and continued support by Stephanie Santiago-Rolón (Florida/Puerto Rico, USA) who has been a great collaborator in US-based Latin music since 2021.
Latin America, which has seen Mexico and Brazil named to IFPI’s Top 10 music markets in the world in 2024, is a priority due to the explosion of consumption of Latin music in the US, primarily in the form of digital streaming. The RIAA reported that Latin recorded music earned $1.4B in 2024 (98% of is from streaming), a steady increase over the previous two years, which also boasted over $1B. More US music consumers are listening to Spanish-language music every year; and when they do, it is our mission, in accordance with the Music Modernization Act to identify and locate the copyright owners to whom these digital audio mechanical royalties are due.
The MLC already has an incredible array of solutions, initiatives and technologies enabling us to match and pay out 90% of royalties received, but engaging small, new, and emerging independent artists is a challenge that all collection societies face and ought to solve.
With RADAR, whether it is a salsa band in Cali, a raggaeton artist in Medellin, a funk rapper in São Paulo, a samba singer in Salvador, a Latin rock duo in Buenos Aires, or an urbano group in Guadalajara, The MLC aims to take all reasonable efforts, from engaging CMOs and publishers, to tapping disconnected networks of independent self-published songwriters and composers to pay out every US digital mechanical dollar!
Introducing RADAR “Putting the hardest to find songwriters on The MLC’s radar.”
Encuentro Especial de Compositores Latinoamericanos (Special Meeting of Latin American Songwriters)
100+ INDIE DISTRIBUTORS IN 20 COUNTRIES HAVE NOW SIGNED UP FOR THE MLC’S DATA PORTAL FOR UNMATCHED ROYALTIES
Thank you Music Business Worldwide for covering the story of this important milestone in my work at The Mechanical Licensing Collective and the independent music industry.
From Idea to Impact: Five Years Later the DURP Expands to 100 Distributors and Pays Millions to DIY Artists
I am thrilled to announce having reached a new milestone in The Mechanical Licensing Collective’s DURP initiative, which I develop and lead to engage music distributors in our efforts to track down and pay unclaimed royalties to independent songwriters — the Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP).
As of today, my team has onboarded over 100 independent music distributors in 20 countries to help us find and pay out millions of dollars in unclaimed U.S. digital audio mechanical royalties to independent songwriters around the world.
I am incredibly proud of the impact the DURP initiative has had on the livelihoods of independent artists who did not know these royalties existed. Many of whom I have had the opportunity to speak with directly and to guide them in the process of becoming MLC members.
This announcement comes on a special day – December 6th. Five years ago, on December 6th, 2019, I was invited by the United States Copyright Office to Washington, D.C. to speak at its Unclaimed Royalties Study Kickoff Symposium at the Library of Congress. It was at this symposium where I offered my insights on the DIY music rights administration space and strategic recommendations on how the forthcoming mechanical licensing collective ought to go about developing innovative data and partnership initiatives to reach the DIY artist and small independent rightsholders sector of the global music industry in furtherance of its mandate of the Music Modernization Act of 2018. The next year, in 2020, I joined The MLC as its Head of Third-Party Partnerships and began the research and development on what has become the Distributor Unmatched Recording Portal (DURP), which is both a data insights and technical solution, and a global network of strategic partnerships.
Today, the DURP has made it possible for many DIY independent artists and self-published songwriters to finally receive the royalties they’ve been owed for many years. I am beyond grateful to be in a role where my continued advocacy and support of independent artists can be put into action to effect real change and opportunities in the global music industry.
Here’s to the DURP. 🥂
The MLC Announces This Year’s ‘Tuning Into Pride Roundtable’ Speakers, Curated By Dae Bogan
I had a lot of fun curating the @mlc_us 4th edition of Tuning Into Pride: An LGBT Music Industry Roundtable this year. Thank you @jaiyokoent and @cameronljungkull for agreeing to co-moderate this year’s dynamic conversation. I’m so looking forward to it next Wednesday, June 12th at 12pm PDT / 2pm CDT / 3pm EDT.
Special shoutout to Xunami Muse @xunamimuse, Star of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, and your team at Prysm Talent @cander723 for agreeing to join us in full drag this year! And of course thank you to all the LGBTQIA music creators who will be adding their perspective to these important discussions.
“Tuning Into Pride: An LGBT Music Industry Roundtable” moderated by Jai Yoko @jaiyokoent, Artist Manager & Mentor and Cameron Ljungkull @cameronljungkull, CEO of Secret Spot DTLA and Co-Presenter of PopOut LA. Tune-in for a candid conversation about the issues and opportunities impacting LGBT music creators and music industry professionals. Engage in the Q&A as panelists unpack and discuss current events, their music and videos, their career journeys, the future music creator rights and representation for LGBT artists, and more.
Speakers:
- 2AM Ricky (he/him), Recording Artist & Songwriter @2amricky
- Bershy (she/they), Recording Artist & Songwriter @thebershy
- Divinity Roxx (she/her), Producer & Composer @diviroxx
- Kit Rice (he/him), CEO at KAR Records @kitriceuk
- Nekeith Mitchell (she/her), Recording Artist & Songwriter @officialnekeith
- Rich Bomb (he/him), Rapper & Songwriter @iamrichbomb
- Talii (she/her), Recording Artist & Songwriter @taliimusic
- Xunami Muse, Star of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 @xunamimuse
🌈Save your spot now: https://go.themlc.com/Pride2024
Dae Bogan Wins Maestro of Metadata Award at Bizzy Awards during Music Biz 2024
Tonight, I won the highest honor that one can achieve in my profession, the Maestro of Metadata Award at the Bizzy Awards put on by the Music Business Association.
I am so honored to be recognized by my peers in an industry in which I’ve worked incredibly hard to consistently align my passion for music creators’ rights with a curiosity for technology and innovation in a way that creates a global impact benefiting historically underrepresented music creators. Having never worked for a major label or major publisher, every inch of progress that I’ve achieved in my career has been earned by an unwavering commitment to independent music creators and rightsholders.
I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with my colleagues at The Mechanical Licensing Collective and the greater music industry to put the livelihoods of music creators front and center in my work.
Thank you Music Biz for such an honor.
Dae Bogan to Host The MLC’s BeatMix: Orlando For Second Year
The MLC presents BeatMix: Orlando
Join Dae Bogan, Head of Third-Party Partnerships at The MLC and Stephanie Santiago-Rolón, CEO of Elevated Music Industries at Plush Recording Studios for an upbeat night to get to know The MLC. Come mix and mingle with Orlando-area music creators and leave with new connections and key information about your rights as a creator in the United States.
Fri. May 17th | 7pm-10pm
Plush Recording Studios
1255 Belle Ave #164
Winter Springs, FL 32708
Dae Bogan to Join Panel On New Markets & Innovation In The Music Industry at Music Biz 2024
I am looking forward to participating on the panel “10X: How New Markets & Innovation Can Help The Music Industry Grow Tenfold” at this year’s Music Biz in Nashville.
Panel Description: The under monetization of music has become a recurring narrative in today’s industry, with economists, technologists, investors and rightsholders excited about its opportunity for growth. Figures from Goldman Sachs state that by 2030, the music industry will be worth $50.1bn annually, whilst commentators in the creative industries point to music’s peers in videogames (estimated at over $340 billion), TV and film (jointly estimated at over $280 billion) to understand the potential for copyright exploitation. Radical, IP-centric innovation is the answer to closing this gap and fulfilling our potential. The panel will discuss how to propel the industry’s revenues to unprecedented heights, finding new uses for under-exploited copyrights and developing new business models, licensing processes and pricing strategies to present these opportunities to customers. It will also examine the important data engineering groundwork that needs to take place to facilitate this in terms of standards-based, high quality, timely metadata from rightsholders.
Moderated by Chantal Epp, Founder & CEO, ClicknClear
Speakers:
• Dae Bogan, Head of Third-Party Partnerships, The MLC
• Chelsea Johnson, Sr. Director Global Digital Operations, Kobalt
• David Knox, President, Reactional Music
Learn more at http://www.musicbiz.com
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