Sound Recording Royalties for M.C. Mack

These songs were made in Memphis in the mid-1990s, far from the major labels. They sold regionally, then kept going. Thirty years later, they are still played every month by listeners in more than 180 countries. Earnings over the last twelve months landed within 2% of the three-year average and slightly ahead of the year before. Three decades on, the money still flows.

The money comes from streaming, which is nearly 100% of the last twelve months. Spotify pays 57% of it. Apple Music pays 28%. YouTube pays 12%. Roughly a quarter of the income is earned outside the United States, led by the UK, Canada, Germany and Australia, with a long list of smaller markets behind them. Songs that never reached national radio now get paid all over the world, every day.

One 1995 recording does most of the work: "EZ Come, EZ Go" is 69% of the last twelve months. It is close to flat, down about 2% from the year before. What sits underneath it has been moving the other way. "Go To Church Hoe" is up 21%. "Letz Make a Stain" is up 19%. None of that replaces the lead recording, but it is why the total came in ahead of last year instead of behind it.

The dollar age is nearly 27 years, which means this income has already survived cassettes, CDs, downloads and the arrival of streaming. It is still here, and the last three years have barely moved. You are not paying for a new hit or a viral moment. You are buying a small, old, proven income stream, on a Life of Rights term, that has spent 27 years showing it does not need anything new to keep paying.

This catalog documents a specific corner of 1990s American hip-hop: Memphis underground rap, made independently and distributed regionally, that streaming later carried worldwide.

M.C. Mack is a Memphis rapper and producer who came up alongside the city's Hypnotize Minds and Three 6 Mafia scene and built a long run of independent releases in a raw, aggressive Southern style. The anchor of the catalog is "EZ Come, EZ Go," originally released in 1995 and collected on Chapters of Tha Mack for Life: Greatest Hits (1993–1996). It became his most recognizable record and reached a far wider audience years later when it was featured on Grand Theft Auto V.

The rest of the catalog spans that same working period and the years just after. "Look Into My Eyes" (1996) and "Letz Make a Stain" (2000) come from his prolific independent run, while earnings reported under "M.C. Mack" trace primarily to the 2001 album Talez From Da Mackside. Broader recognition followed the music: M.C. Mack was among the artists nominated for the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012

Distribution Note. These recordings are currently distributed by Select-O Hits, with distribution transitioning to Symphonic post-sale. 

Earnings Note. Earnings from January through May 2023 were reported together in one combined May 2023 distribution rather than paid monthly.  Royalties have been paid on a monthly basis since. That consolidated payment falls outside the trailing twelve-month and three-year windows and does not affect those figures.