Royalty rates and terms are determined by the U.S. Library of Congress Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) through "rate proceedings" that occur every five years.
The proceedings and resulting rates are given short names to make it easy to refer to them. The proceedings which set the statutory mechanical royalty rates are referred to as “Phonorecords,” followed by a Roman numeral (I, II, III, etc.) to indicate the order of the decisions.
Phonorecords I - applies to the period 1/1/08 – 12/31/12
Phonorecords II - applies to the period 1/1/13 - 12/31/17
Phonorecords III - applies to the period of 1/1/18 - 12/31/22, currently being reconsidered
Phonorecords IV - applies to the period 1/1/23 - 12/31/27
When The MLC began administering the blanket license in 2021, the Phonorecords III rates had not been finalized. The MLC consulted the U.S. Copyright Office to determine which rates to apply and was advised to use the Phonorecords II rates until a revised final determination is made by the Copyright Royalty Board on the Phonorecords III period (i.e., January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2022).
The CRB recently issued that final rate determination, and we are currently assessing the steps we (and the DSPs) need to take for us to begin processing royalties for matched historical uses from the Phonorecord III period. The MLC will provide updates as soon as timelines are confirmed. For now, we will continue to hold any matched uses from the historical Phonorecords III period (2018-2020).
The Phonorecords II rates and terms can be found in full here. MLC Members also have access to more specific rate calculations for each DSP within The MLC Portal.