Why are Mechanicals considered payable to a Payee while their Releases are unrecouped?

It depends on the contract / deal, but Mechanicals are often paid out on the publishing side even if master side projects (Releases) are unrecouped. This is because Mechanicals are a separate rights type (publishing) triggered by events (sales) on the master side and are typically paid out to the songwriter / publishing entity regardless of master side recoupment status.

Thus, Mechanicals expenses (the negative Mechanical expenditure) are shouldered on the master side (typically by the label, artist, or both) and cross-collateralized with the master side, and Mechanicals income (the positive total paid to a receiving entity) is uncrossed from the master side and considered payable to the songwriter / publishing entity on the publishing side. This can easily be represented within IC using unique contracts for both the Mechanicals Expense and Mechanicals Income Items in your account, with the Mechanicals Income uncrossed from the master side with our helpful Ledger feature!