In February 2021, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) absorbed approximately $424 million in unclaimed streaming royalties from major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The MLC was created after Congressional approval, with a mandate to collect and distribute songwriters and musicians' royalty payments. However, by the end of 2021, the MLC had accumulated at least $561 million in unmatched royalties, according to a tax document shared with the media outlet Digital Music News (DMN).