Essay
What Is a Mechanical Royalty? A Plain-English Breakdown
Mechanical royalties pay songwriters when a song is reproduced — streamed, downloaded, or pressed.
Every on-demand stream is a reproduction of the composition. That is a mechanical. In the US, the MLC collects it. Elsewhere, mechanical societies or combined CMOs collect it.
It is the largest single source of unmatched money in the streaming era, because writers register with a PRO and stop there.