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ways, called “compulsory” or “voluntary.” age, the term has broadened to usages for digital video
distribution and online video posting. Note that there is
• Compulsory mechanical licenses follow a strict set of no government-set “statutory rate” for sync licensing;
legally-mandated terms: by law (US Copyright each publisher (or their licensing representatives) sets
“Circular 73”) publishers are required to allow their own rates.
other recordings after their initial recording is re-
leased, as long as the licensee files proper paper- Performance Licensing/Royalties: Again, before
work notifying the publisher of their intention to the internet, this term had a narrower meaning, refer-
record the work, provides monthly statement of ring to the license required for live performance of a
account and royalty payments, and provides an publisher’s copyrighted music (live worship services and
annual detailed statement of account, certified certain non-commercial, in-person K-12 school perfor-
by a certified public accountant. Companies like mances are exempt from this kind of licensing; but col-
the Harry Fox Agency or Easy Song Licensing use leges/universities, community ensembles, professional
compulsory licenses to operate as third-party in- ensembles, radio stations, performance venues, etc., are
termediaries for mechanical licensing. required to license their performances).
Ensembles or performance venues usually buy a
• Voluntary mechanical licenses are contracted directly “blanket” license for their live events from a Perform-
by the recording producer with the publisher. This ing Rights Organization (“PRO”) such as ASCAP,
establishes direct communication and relationship BMI, SESAC, or others. (We’ll refer mostly to ASCAP
between producer and copyright holder, and can in this article, but structures are similar with other
allow for more accommodating terms or less cost PROs.) This license provides the rights to perform all
(i.e., the publisher may not charge an administra- music represented by that PRO for one annual fee—
tive fee the way a third-party intermediary would). thus the term “blanket.”
The PRO collects these fees, and collects user-re-
The rates for compulsory mechanical licenses are ported annual data (on what music was performed, by
set by the government—a “statutory rate” based on whom, in what situations), then uses complex formu-
duration of the recorded track, and publishers almost las to assign “weights” to each performance. The PRO
always use these same rates when issuing voluntary pays out the collected money according to the weighted
mechanical licenses. However, in the internet age, the value of each performance, split as follows:
term “mechanical royalties” has broadened to include
digital mechanical royalties paid when someone down- • 50% to the “writer” (i.e., the composer; however, if
loads or interactively streams digital musical recordings there are multiple composers involved, and/or a copy-
online. These are calculated differently than physical righted text or living lyricist, this portion is split between
mechanical royalties, and surprisingly, the responsibil- them based on how they have agreed to divide it).
ity for “who pays” these digital mechanical royalties has
changed somewhat (even though recording producers • 50% to the publisher (i.e., the copyright owner; if
are still responsible for paying the physical mechanical there is more than one publisher involved, the publish-
licensing, as always). We’ll explain below. er half may be further subdivided as well).

Sync Licensing/Royalties: Before the internet, this These live-performance royalties are still an impor-
term referred to the license required by publishers when tant part of a composer’s revenue, but in the digital
someone recorded and distributed a video recording era, this term has broadened to also include the “public
(VHS, DVD) that either showed a live performance of performance” aspect of digital audio streaming (details
the publisher’s copyrighted music or used their music below).
as a soundtrack for other visuals. These licenses are still
in use for physical video recordings; but in the internet

CHORAL JOURNAL March/April 2023 Volume 63 Number 7 37