November 10, 2026

MLC Market Share Distributions Start April 2027: What to Do Before February

The MLC plans to start paying out its leftover unclaimed streaming royalties in April 2027, one month of 2021 usage at a time. Songs that are not registered, claimed and matched by the MLC's database snapshot on or about February 10, 2027 will miss the first round. Everything you need to do before then is free inside the MLC portal, and you have roughly three months to do it.

This guide covers how market share distributions work, which numbers are confirmed, what is still unknown, and a dated checklist for the next 13 weeks.

What a market share distribution is

When the Music Modernization Act created The MLC, it required it to hold royalties it could not match to a song or pay to an owner for at least three years. After that, the law says the MLC must give what is left to rightsholders in proportion to their "relative market shares." That payout process is what the MLC calls a market share distribution.

Two kinds of money go into the pool. Unmatched royalties come from recordings that streaming services reported but the MLC never connected to a song. Unclaimed royalties come from songs that are matched but where no Member has claimed the full ownership split, so part of the money has no owner.

The MLC will allocate the pool song by song, separately for each streaming service and offering, using its real distribution data rather than estimates. A song that earned blanket royalties from a service in a given usage month gets its pro rata share of that month's leftover pool, whether the royalties arrived the first time or through later reprocessing. Interest at the statutory rate is added.

The key detail is the pace. The MLC will distribute one month of leftover royalties per monthly payment, starting with January 2021, the first month services reported to the MLC. April 2027 pays January 2021, May 2027 pays February 2021, and so on.

The numbers that are confirmed

Here is what the MLC has published, as of November 9, 2026. Anything not in this table is not confirmed.

Fact	What the MLC says	Source
First distribution	April 2027, covering remaining January 2021 blanket royalties	Market Share page
Pace	One month of remaining royalties per monthly distribution	FAQs
First pool	Just over $6 million as of the September 2026 distribution, down from under $7 million in January 2026	FAQs
Later months	Expected to be comparable to January 2021	FAQs
Database snapshot	On or about the 10th of each month. For April 2027, February 10, 2027	FAQs
Processing time	Claims and registrations typically 21 days or less, match suggestions about 30 days, neither guaranteed	FAQs
2021 match rate	94% for all 2021 usage	Our Progress

The pool is small next to the headline figures you may have seen. Under $7 million, spread across every song that earned money in January 2021, is not a windfall for any one rightsholder. The MLC also says that fewer than 5 percent of the sound recordings still unmatched ever accrued more than $1, and the rest average only 5 to 6 cents each. The money is in aggregate catalogs and in works with unclaimed shares, not in any single stray recording.

The separate pool of about $397 million in historical royalties, which streaming services transferred to the MLC in 2021 for the period 2007 through 2020, is not part of the April 2027 distribution. The MLC has matched over $337 million of it and distributed nearly $239 million. It has not announced a date for distributing the rest.

Who gets paid, and what waiting costs

The pool does not go to whoever shows up in April. It goes to the owners of songs that earned royalties in the usage month being paid, and an owner has to exist in the MLC's database to receive anything. A few rules decide the rest:

Claimed shares are unaffected. If you have claimed your share of a song, you keep being paid normally. Market share distributions only touch the unclaimed part.
Late claims still collect, with limits. When you claim a share later, the MLC pays you the royalties it held for past periods, plus statutory interest, except for periods that already went through a market share distribution.
Disputed songs are held. If ownership is disputed or a song is overclaimed, the royalties stay on hold until it is resolved and are not distributed in the meantime.
Publishers must share. If a publisher or administrator receives money on your songs, the MMA requires that your payment be at least 50 percent of what they received for your works.

The cost of waiting follows from the first rule. Each month from April 2027, one more month of 2021 leftovers is distributed to current owners. A claim filed in May cannot reach the month already paid in April. A claim filed before the snapshot is in the database when the first month is allocated.

The MLC's own advice is blunt: because changes only count once a monthly snapshot captures them, take every step well before the February snapshot.

A 13-week plan to be counted before February 10

Work backward from the February 10 snapshot. The MLC says claims and registrations are typically processed in 21 days or less and match suggestions in about 30, which sets the last safe submission dates. Those timings are typical, not guaranteed. The earlier dates below add buffer for rejections and are our suggestion, not an MLC deadline.

The plan front-loads claims and registrations, because the MLC says claims and registrations typically take 21 days or less.

By November 22: connect with the MLC. Songwriters who manage their own royalties use the Member Hub. Songwriters with a publisher or administrator use the Songwriter Hub. Joining is free.
By November 22: search your catalog. Use the MLC's Public Work Search to look up every song and see which shares are claimed. Search before you register anything, so you do not create a duplicate.
By December 15: claim open shares. If another Member registered a song and your share is missing, the Claiming Tool lets you claim it.
By December 15: register songs that are not in the database. The Works Registration Tools cover one song at a time, bulk uploads and Common Works Registration (CWR) files.
By December 15: submit match suggestions. The Matching Tool lists sound recordings that streaming services reported but the MLC could not connect to a song. Search by your ISRCs and suggest the match.
By January 10: clear rejections and overclaims. If a submission came back, fix it now. If shares add up to more than 100 percent, use the Overclaims Tool, because disputed royalties are held rather than distributed.
Last safe days: January 11 for match suggestions, January 20 for claims and registrations. Anything later risks missing the snapshot.
After the snapshot: read your April 2027 statement. The MLC says market share royalties will appear as separate lines by streaming service and offering.

Where Mogul fits

The MLC's tools do the job, but they work one song at a time, and the hard part is knowing what is missing. Mogul's Royalty Finder is a free scan that checks your registration status across the MLC, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange in under a minute and shows where royalties may be sitting uncollected. You do not need a credit card to run it.

If the scan finds gaps, Mogul Register finds and fixes missing registrations on your behalf, including MLC claims and registrations, so the work is done well before the February snapshot rather than squeezed into January. Mogul cannot promise a payout from the market share pool, because the MLC alone decides what is distributed. What it can do is make sure your catalog is complete in the MLC's database when the snapshot is taken.

FAQ

When do MLC market share distributions start?

The MLC plans to begin with its April 2027 royalty distribution, paying out remaining unclaimed royalties from January 2021 first, then one more month each month.

How much money is in the first distribution?

The MLC was holding just over $6 million in remaining unmatched and unclaimed royalties from January 2021 after its September 2026 distribution, and expects that figure to keep falling as it matches more usage.

Do I get paid automatically?

Only if your songs are in the MLC's database with your share claimed, and the songs earned royalties in the month being paid. Anything you receive will show up as separate lines on your monthly statement.

What if I claim a song after February 10, 2027?

You can still claim. The MLC says it will then pay you the royalties it held for earlier periods plus statutory interest, except for months that were already part of a market share distribution. Because one more month is distributed every month from April 2027, waiting shrinks what a late claim can reach.

Do I need to be an MLC Member?

To claim, register or suggest matches yourself, yes, and joining is free. If a publisher or administrator manages your songs, they handle claims, and the MMA says your payment from market share money must be at least 50 percent of what they receive for your works.

Does this include the $397 million of historical royalties?

No. That pool covers 2007 through 2020 and is separate. The MLC has not announced when it will distribute what is left of it.

What is the difference between unmatched and unclaimed royalties?

Unmatched royalties come from recordings the MLC has not connected to any song. Unclaimed royalties come from songs that are matched but whose ownership shares nobody has fully claimed.

Does my distributor register my songs with the MLC?

A distributor collects money for the recording. The MLC pays the songwriting and publishing side, and only for songs registered and claimed in its database. Unless a publishing administrator or a distributor add-on handles MLC registration for you, that step is yours.