Photo Credit: AllTrack Music Rights
Performing rights organization AllTrack launches a mechanical rights division, a first for a US-based PRO.
AllTrack, a digital-era performing rights organization (PRO) built to serve the independent music sector, has announced the launch of a mechanical rights division. This move makes AllTrack the first and only PRO in the United States to offer integrated performance and mechanical rights collection services that music creators and publishers can manage through a single platform.
While performance royalties are compensation for rightsholders when their songs are performed in public (either live or a played recording), mechanical royalties are compensation for rightsholders when their songs are reproduced and distributed. Mechanical royalties are generated when music is streamed on demand, used in digital applications, downloaded, reproduced into physical products such as CDs and vinyl records, or utilized in various other means protected under copyright law.
AllTrack now collects mechanical royalties on behalf of its members throughout the world, both directly and through its relationships with international sister societies.
Traditionally, independent US creators have needed to register their songs with multiple platforms and societies to collect their global mechanical royalties. In some cases, if they wished to pursue a truly independent path, certain forms of mechanicals were inaccessible altogether. In other cases, they may have just registered with the MLC in the US, not realizing that the MLC only collects a portion of the overall mechanical royalties available to them.
AllTrack solves these issues by enabling rightsholders to collect all forms of worldwide mechanical royalties through a single platform, including streaming, downloads, physical, lyrics, and any other forms protected under copyright law.
While AllTrack’s modernized platform can be used for either mechanical rights or performing rights on a standalone basis, rightsholders that use AllTrack for both rights benefit even further: saving time and hassle by only needing to manage and register songs with one account; receiving faster, more direct payments relative to other service providers; identifying and resolving conflicts more quickly; unlocking powerful insights with enhanced reporting and data analytics; and receiving automated metadata enhancement services across both sets of rights.
“We’re thrilled to expand our services to include mechanical rights, which typically represent a significant portion of a music creator’s published income,” said Hayden Bower, founder and CEO of AllTrack. “Our integrated approach addresses the independent sector’s long-standing need for a simplified royalty collection process. AllTrack members can now receive the compensation they’re entitled to faster and more efficiently than ever before.”
The launch of this division follows AllTrack’s recent acceptance to CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) as a rights management entity and completion of a first-of-its-kind integration with a streaming service (TIDAL). Creators and publishers can apply for AllTrack’s mechanical rights services starting today, subject to meeting certain minimum streaming thresholds.