Mills Music Trust (OTC: MMTRS) is a music royalty trust that holds the right to receive a deferred contingent purchase price obligation derived from the 1964 sale of a legacy music and lyric copyright catalogue. The Trust makes money by collecting Contingent Portion Payments from EMI, which administers the catalogue, and distributing the net proceeds to Trust Unit Holders after deducting administrative expenses. The Trust was created by a Declaration of Trust dated December 3, 1964, and is administered c/o HSBC Bank USA, N.A. The catalogue contains over 12,000 music titles, of which approximately 1,430 produced royalty income in recent years, with most income concentrated in a small number of songs with copyrights established primarily in or prior to 1954. In FY2025, the Trust received $1,570,141 from EMI and distributed $652,817 ($2.35 per Trust Unit) to Unit Holders. In FY2024, the Trust received $1,291,775 from EMI and distributed $658,733 ($2.37 per Trust Unit). The Trust continues until the last copyright in the catalogue expires and cannot be renewed.

Revenue model

Royalty pass-through trust. EMI remits Contingent Portion Payments to the Trust based on royalties collected from the music copyright catalogue. The Trust distributes net cash to Unit Holders after administrative expenses. In FY2025, total receipts were $1,570,141, including a $500,000 settlement payment and ordinary Contingent Portion Payments.

Products and services

Right to receive contingent royalty payments derived from a music and lyric copyright catalogue of over 12,000 titles. Top earning songs include 'Straighten Up and Fly Right' (Nat King Cole / Irving Mills), 'Mood Indigo' (Barney Bigard / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills), 'Volare (Parish Version)', 'Stars Fell on Alabama', 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love', and compositions by Leroy Anderson including 'Bugler's Holiday', 'Typewriter', 'Blue Tango', and 'The Waltzing Cat', among others.

Customers and end markets

EMI is the sole obligor making Contingent Portion Payments to the Trust. End royalty demand comes from music licensees across performance, synchronization, and mechanical rights markets. The Trust distributes proceeds to Trust Unit Holders.

Value-chain role

Passive royalty trust. Holds contractual right to receive royalty-derived payments from EMI. Does not manage, license, or administer the copyrights directly.

Geographic exposure

Trust administered in New York. No geographic revenue breakdown disclosed in the filing excerpts.

Source: SEC 10-K, filed 2026-03-31

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