What Is MCPS? The Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Explained

What MCPS does

MCPS — the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society — is the UK organisation responsible for licensing and collecting mechanical royalties on behalf of music publishers and songwriters. Mechanical royalties are generated whenever a musical composition is reproduced in a fixed form: pressed onto a physical format, encoded into a digital file, or reproduced in a streaming transaction. MCPS licenses these reproduction rights to record labels, streaming services, broadcasters, and anyone else who needs to reproduce music commercially.

MCPS and PRS for Music: the relationship

MCPS and PRS for Music merged their operations in the 1990s and now operate as a single organisation from a practical standpoint — both are administered under the PRS for Music umbrella. However, they remain legally distinct societies with separate functions. PRS collects performance royalties (when music is publicly performed or broadcast). MCPS collects mechanical royalties (when music is reproduced). Joining PRS for Music as a songwriter member grants access to both PRS distributions and MCPS distributions for certain income streams, but the registration requirements differ.

What MCPS licensing covers

MCPS holds licensing agreements with the following categories of music users:

• Major record labels and independent record labels — for physical and digital reproduction
• Digital streaming platforms — Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and others have MCPS licences covering UK mechanical royalties
• Download platforms — iTunes, Beatport, and equivalent download stores
• Broadcasters — for reproductions made in the course of broadcast production
• Background music services — providers of licensed music for commercial premises

How MCPS distributes mechanical royalties

MCPS receives reports from licensees detailing which works have been reproduced and in what quantity. It matches these reports against its register of works to identify which rights holders are owed royalties, calculates the amounts based on the applicable rate, and distributes the income to the relevant publishers and songwriters. The accuracy of this distribution depends on the quality of the works register data — incomplete registrations or metadata errors result in unmatched income.

Registering with MCPS

Most independent songwriters access MCPS through their PRS for Music membership — when you register a work with PRS, a simultaneous registration with MCPS is typically created for the mechanical rights. However, independent artists who self-release should confirm that their works are correctly registered on both the PRS and MCPS databases, particularly for digital streaming mechanicals. There are also specific registration requirements for works that are physically manufactured or broadcast.

Where MCPS income commonly goes uncollected

The most frequent gap is digital streaming mechanicals. While major streaming platforms have blanket MCPS licences, the royalty distribution to individual rights holders requires correct work registration and accurate usage reporting. Works with incomplete metadata, missing ISWCs, or non-standard title variants are frequently unmatched in streaming reports. Physical manufacturing outside the UK and international mechanical royalties require additional registration steps that many independent artists are not aware of.

MCPS and international mechanical royalties

MCPS has reciprocal agreements with mechanical rights organisations in other countries — GEMA in Germany, SACEM in France, SOCAN in Canada, and equivalents globally. International mechanical royalties flow back to MCPS for distribution to UK members via these agreements. As with PRS performance royalties, the reciprocal system only works correctly when your works are registered with sufficient metadata for the overseas society to match them. Gaps in international mechanical collection are often addressed through multi-territory registration via a publishing administrator.

If you are unsure whether your MCPS registration is complete and whether your mechanical royalties are being correctly collected, our free Catalog Assessment will provide a clear picture of your current setup.