The Mechanical Licensing Collective
Legal name: Mechanical Licensing Collective
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 842642688
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, US
- Phone
- 6292408300
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Management & Technical Assistance
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $111,325,211
- Expenses
- $86,181,834
- Assets
- $1,419,879,405
- Liabilities
- $1,358,515,542
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
31 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KRIS AHREND (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- KRIS AHREND (CEO): $851,319 total reported compensation
- RICHARD THOMPSON (CTO): $649,988 total reported compensation
- ILENE WEINTRAUB (CFO): $600,187 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The MLC administers blanket mechanical licenses for eligible streaming and download services in the United States, collecting royalties due under those licenses and paying self-administered songwriters, composers, and lyricists; music publishers and administrators; and collective management organizations (CMOs).
What it reported doing in 2024
Administration of blanket mechanical licenses to digital music providers (dmp's); collection, matching, and distribution of royalties received from dmp's; continued planning and implementation for license and royalty administration operations; work on regulatory measures to support license and royalty administration operations; industry support and coordination.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Investment-supported. 65% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 54
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 22.6%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 16.48; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.96; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 34% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 39.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $851K · 31 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $16.4M reported
- Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.