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Hello everyone,
I’ve been checking this site since I started writing library music a few years ago. What a great resource, I can’t say enough about how awesome and helpful everyone is on here.
Let me explain my scenario and any advice would be greatly appreciated: I mainly have music on the royalty free sites, a few others as well. I’ve suspected that I’ve had music in broadcast use for a while, although my ASCAP statements until recently have shown no activity. Upon finally seeing that I finally have some royalties, I decided to sign up for a free month of Tunesat. I’ve sold a little over 150 unique cues, with the highest seller selling 45 times. I uploaded the max allowed for a Tunesat trial (100) which is just about covers all tracks I’ve licensed twice or more. Within the first day I’m seeing that I’m having music played on the biography channel. My question is should that be an indicator of how frequently I’m having music played on tv? What’s disconcerting is that I don’t even have all of my tracks that
I’ve sold uploaded to Tunesat (granted the ones that aren’t have mostly only sold once). Is it possible that that is a coincidence? I suppose I’ll wait and see how the rest of the month plays out. Has anyone here had Tunesat search retroactively for uses? Was is worth it? If it were a bit cheaper it’d be a no brainer, it’s just a lot to shell out when I haven’t even collected anything yet. If so is it worth it to have them search worldwide or just US? And last (this is a lot I know, sorry) what is the correct procedure for collecting the past royalties, does Tunesat handle that or are they only prompting you to contact your PRO to handle it? What a drag, I really wish the PROs were on top of collecting a little more.I know a lot of these questions are difficult to answer, please speculate. Any advice is very much welcome and appreciated.
Thanks!
Within the first day I’m seeing that I’m having music played on the biography channel. My question is should that be an indicator of how frequently I’m having music played on tv?
I’ve had a few tunes make it to broadcast both in shows and commercials. More often commercials. You should listen to the detection and see if it’s in the show or a commercial on the show. I suspect that’s what it is if you don’t have your music in libraries that submit to shows.
I’m not sure how ASCAP collects for commercials but it’s a bit of a pain with BMI.
If so is it worth it to have them search worldwide or just US?
I doubt it would be worth it.
what is the correct procedure for collecting the past royalties, does Tunesat handle that or are they only prompting you to contact your PRO to handle it?
Contact your PRO for collection. Tunesat does have a service but in your case probably not much there.
Hope this helps a bit.
Hi George,
I happen to have a lot of experience writing for TV and radio spots and I also have collected ASCAP royalties from commercials before. Here is what I can tell you:
The only way to collect royalties is to:
– register the music with ASCAPS ad and Promo department the title of your track,
– get the spot Identification number (usually an ISCI code) from the advertiser or ad agency who created the spot.
– file the script (VO copy of the spot) and an actual mp3 of the spot
– Send in who the advertiser is, the length of the spot :15? :30? :60
– Send in a copy of the entire media buy (Precise information as to which stations, which markets, and which shows the spot will air in)With all this said, here is the bad news: You will not succeed in obtaining any of this information. Only the big ad agencies production Business managers have this info and they usually only provide it if you are commissioned to write original music for a spot, the spot has to be a “big deal” like a NATIONAL BRANDING campaign for MCDonalds or Coke or P&G. This is meaningless for local car commercials or local furniture store spots. It would take you 20 or 40 e-mails and calls and no one will give you this info. You distribute your music on RF sites and the end buyer is not obligated to help you other than by paying the fee you charged on the RF site. They can use your music for a Coca Cola commercial and run it all over the world 40 times a day on millions of stations because that is what the RF model allows the end buyer to do. This is why I am a strong advocate of charging a respectable fee on RF sites because that is all you are going to get.
It is very hard to collect royalties for TV spots…you need a very cooperative ad agency willing to help you out. I have collected royalties from spots though before and it was always a challenge educating the business managers as to how this needs to be done, and what information needs to be filed. It’s not as simple as a “cue sheet” for a TV show….wish I had better news for you. It is disheartening to hear your music on the air in heavy rotation and then not getting royalties…This has happened to me many, many times in the past. I must have heard a track promote USA network 10 times a week for 6 months straight on TV and Radio…and I never made a dime, never got a license fee because the library gave it away as a “loss leader” to make in-roads with that client…or just lied to me and collected a fee but did not share the fee with me.
I agree with Glen. I have to do something similar with BMI. I have a commercial running now for http://www.zumu.co that was purchased from an RF site. I did chase them down, got a copy of the commercial and filed it and a jungle data sheet with BMI. According to Tunesat it’s has been running since 12-2012 literally thousands of times on many networks. We’ll see if it turns into any real money.
There is another angle with ASCAP and commercials; Competitrack. Instead of using ISCI and copies of media buys, you can register with Competitrack and search for the commercial. If they have a record ASCAP will pay the royalty from that data.
I had a spot run a few thousand times last year on dozens of networks. I got payments but they were minor consider the play count. I think it probably totals a few hundred a quarter. The highest individual pay for play was about $0.70 but most average $0.09 per play.
Great info! I thought that commercials usually paid backend royalties. It looks like a lot of people are missing out on money.
@soundslikejoe: Thanks for the great tip! Signed up for Competitrack and found the zumu.com ad there. Turns out they are a partner with Apple so that makes it more interesting.
“Has anyone here had Tunesat search retroactively for uses? Was is worth it?”
I signed up for Tunesat in Dec. 2011, to monitor 25 cues, U.S. T.V. only. To date I have had 1526 detections. Last November I told them I would like to take advantage of their advertised “exception reports” whereby they claim they will look at my ASCAP statements, compare them with the Tunesat monitoring, and present ASCAP with a list of any detections not reported on my ASCAP statement. I went ahead and purchased retroactive 6 months detections from Tunesat for $236, I believe it was. In January 2013 I inquired as to their progress and they said they were delayed by hurricane Sandy, but to call back. I wrote back in April, and they said they were going to have to “run the detections again” but I would be moved to the front of the line. I have heard nothing further from them. The $30/month I have spent for 18 months has been a test to see whether I would at least recoup my costs, and if so I would expand my monitoring to foreign TV, etc. BTW, they solicited me for their service, I had never heard of them. While it has been interesting to watch the detections, it is not enabling me to collect any money. I will probably discontinue their service, as they have not provided what they advertised.
I read an article once that ASCAP does not accept Tunesat detections as a means to adjust royalty payments. Not sure what the latest is on that.
@Advice,to paraphrase: It would be easier for an Airbus to pass through the eye of a needle.