RECOVERY GUIDE
Claim your share of the MLC unmatched pool
Hundreds of millions of dollars in mechanical royalties sit at the MLC because streaming services reported plays they couldn’t match to a registered songwriter. If your songs streamed before you registered them — or registered with slightly different titles — some of that money is yours. The MLC’s Matching and Claiming tools exist exactly for this, and using them costs nothing.
⚠ The MLC plans to start distributing remaining unmatched royalties by market share in early 2027 — claim yours before it becomes someone else’s check.
01
Create (or log into) your free MLC member account
You need a Member account, not just the public search. Independent self-administered songwriters qualify directly — you are, in MLC terms, your own publisher. portal.themlc.com →
02
Register your works first
Unmatched usage can only attach to a registered work. If the scanner found gaps, fix those before hunting the pool — the CWR file from the remedy page covers the bulk of it.
03
Run the Matching Tool over your catalog
In the Member portal, the Matching Tool suggests unmatched usage that looks like your works — title variants, misspellings, missing-writer reports. Review each suggestion and confirm the real ones.
04
Check the Claiming Tool for unclaimed shares
A surprising amount of "unmatched" money belongs to works that ARE registered but whose writer shares were never claimed. The Claiming Tool shows works connected to you with claimable percentages.
05
Sweep historical unmatched royalties
Matched usage pays out with accrued interest in the next distribution cycle. Re-run the sweep every few months — new usage reports land continuously, and the matching engine improves.