Getty Images While applauding the new recommendation, songwriter advocacy organizations argue the Copyright Office "did not address the inherent dangers of conflicts of interest present" on the MLC board. In a key comment on one of the most controversial issues regarding the Mechanical Licensing Collective, the U.S. Copyright Office issued regulations and best practices which included the guideline that the initial distribution of unmatched mechanical royalties by market share not occur for at least five years—not the minimum three-year period as stated in the Music Modernization Act. What’s more, in making its recommendation, the Copyright Office said the clock counting down the five-year period should not start ticking until the MLC’s claim portal—which will give rights owners the ability to search through unmatched songs and claim those they own so that they can be paid the royalties for plays of those songs—is up and fully functioning with all of its tools. So far, the MLC apparently only has a beta version of the claim portal.