Royalty rates for compulsory mechanical licenses have been set by the federal government. The amount of royalties you pay depends on the format and the length of your song. These royalties go directly to the copyright holder.
Statutory mechanical licensing rates as of January 2024 are:
SONG LENGTH | ROYALTY RATE |
0:01 – 5:00 | $0.124 x # of copies |
5:01 – 6:00 | $0.1434 x # of copies |
6:01 – 7:00 | $0.1673 x # of copies |
7:01 – 8:00 | $0.1912 x # of copies |
8:01 – 9:00 | $0.2151 x # of copies |
9:01 – 10:00 | $0.239 x # of copies |
Example: You are covering "What's My Age Again?" by Blink 182, and it is 3:44 in length. You're releasing it on a run of 500 vinyl records.
$0.124 (rate for songs 5:00 in length or less) X 500 records = $62.00 in royalties owed
Example: You are releasing a jazz rendition of "When I Come Around" by Green Day, and it is surprisingly 6:22 in length. You're wanting to get it on all streaming platforms, including ones that offer downloads, and your digital distributor sent you to us to get a license for those downloads. You don't know how well your jazz rendition of a scene classic is going to do, so you license our minimum of 25 downloads.
$0.1673 (rate for 6:01-7:00 minute long songs) X 25 downloads = $4.19 in royalties owed