Glossary · Copyright
Section 115
Section 115 of the United States Copyright Act creates the compulsory mechanical licence for musical compositions. Since the Music Modernization Act it also creates the blanket licence that covers interactive streaming and downloads, administered by The MLC.
Section 115 is the statute behind every mechanical royalty in the United States. It says that once a musical composition has been distributed to the public in the US with the copyright owner's authority, anyone else may make and distribute their own recording of it, provided they comply with the licence and pay the rate.
The Music Modernization Act of 2018 rebuilt the digital half of Section 115. Before it, a digital service theoretically needed to serve individual notices for every composition it streamed, which at streaming scale was unworkable and produced enormous unmatched liabilities. The MMA replaced that with a single blanket licence covering interactive streaming and digital downloads, and designated The MLC to administer it. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music operate under that blanket licence, report usage to The MLC, and pay their US mechanical royalties there.
The rates under Section 115 are set by the Copyright Royalty Board rather than negotiated. For physical copies and permanent downloads the rate is a penny rate per copy. For interactive streaming, the formula produces a pool derived from service revenue and payments to record labels, which is why no fixed per-stream mechanical rate exists.
Section 115 also has limits worth knowing. It does not cover synchronisation with video, does not permit a first release of an unreleased composition, and does not let you change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.
The misunderstanding: thinking Section 115 covers performance royalties too. It does not touch them — those are collected by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR under an entirely different right.
Read from the statute at law.cornell.edu rather than from blogs, mine included.
Related terms
- Compulsory licenseA compulsory license is a licence the law grants automatically, on set terms, without the copyright owner's consent.
- The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective)The MLC is the non-profit organisation designated under the Music Modernization Act to administer the United States blanket…
- Mechanical royaltyA mechanical royalty is the money owed for reproducing a musical composition — copying the song itself, not the recording of it.
- Music Modernization ActThe Music Modernization Act is United States legislation signed in October 2018 that created the blanket mechanical licence for…
Answers that use this term
- The MLC vs Songtrust vs a Publishing Admin Deal: Who Should Collect Your Publishing?The MLC is free and collects one thing: US digital mechanical royalties under the Section 115 blanket licence.
- What Is a Mechanical Royalty, and Who Pays It?A mechanical royalty is the money owed for reproducing a musical composition — copying the song, not the recording.
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
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