Policies

The MLC’s policies serve a central function in The MLC’s rights management operations. The Music Modernization Act of 2018 (MMA) requires that The MLC establish policies and procedures for resolving musical works ownership disputes under the guidance of the Dispute Resolution Committee. The primary goal of MLC policies is to create a process to facilitate timely and efficient resolution of disputes directly among the impacted parties. 

To view the Ownership Dispute Policy click here.

If you are unable to register a share of a work because another party is already claiming all or part of the same share resulting in a Conflict, then you may seek to resolve the Conflict through a Conflict Procedure as outlined in the Ownership Dispute Policy. To give notice to The MLC of a Conflict, click here.

Please be advised that The MLC has suspended its Statutory Terminations Notice and Dispute Policy pending the outcome of the rulemaking proceeding initiated by the U.S. Copyright Office in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on October 25, 2022 (available here). The MLC will hold all royalties for uses of musical works that are subject to statutory termination claims beginning with the October usage period, which would have been distributed in January 2023.

To view the current version of the Statutory Terminations Policy click here.

To view the original version of the Statutory Terminations Policy click here.

To view a comparison of the current Statutory Terminations Policy to the original version click here.

To access the Termination Notice Form click here.