Essay
Controlled Composition Clause: What It Costs
A controlled composition clause cuts your mechanical rate to 75%. In 2026 that is a reduced penny rate, not the statutory rate most explainers quote.
Label deals often cap what the label will pay you — as the writer of your own songs — at 75% of the statutory mechanical rate, and sometimes cap the number of songs that qualify on an album.
Streaming has complicated this. The MLC blanket license sits alongside older controlled-composition language that was written for physical. Read the clause. Do not assume streaming is exempt.
An administrator cannot rewrite your label contract. We can make sure the rest of the world is still filed at full rate.