which PRO for European composer?

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
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  • #25575 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    What is most efficient PRO for European based composers?
    I am mostly doing electronic instrumental cues.
    I want to start uploading to AS.

    #25577 Reply
    Draum
    Participant

    It depends on where you live in Europe. In Norway we got TONO.

    Chris

    #25589 Reply
    PolarSounds
    Participant

    I think in most cases its most efficient and easiest to use your countrys PRO. So if theres no special reason to not use your local PRO I would just use them.

    #25590 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    I’m from Slovenia and our SAZAS is so rigged, that it’s totally worthless to register with them.
    GEMA from Germany also isn’t too good for instrumentals as i heard?
    Once i heard that TONO had 10 times better pricing like SAZAS.

    Also i read that ASCAP is a little better priced for instrumentals than BMI, but i would need to pay extra 75$ because i don’t have American registered creditcard. In the long run, this probablly wouldn’t count so much, but overall i would like to know which is best.

    #25591 Reply
    Kubed
    Participant

    I’m from Greece but i skipped the greek PRO (AEPI) and joined BMI.
    I’ve contacted AEPI before joining BMI and they didn’t sound well informed about various subjects related to publishing,song registration etc.
    Plus there were a lot of stories about underpaid greek artists from AEPI.

    BMI was far more professional and since my main target was US,it was a no-brainer for me.

    A fellow estonian artist told me this interesting thing: he was registered with the Estonian PRO but then he wanted to join BMI as well.
    BMI told him he can simply be in both PROs: BMI would take care of all the royalties EXCEPT estonian ones and estonian PRO would take care ONLY the royalties coming from the estonian market.
    Maybe you could do something similar.

    #25654 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    Hey thanks for reply Kubed!
    I am about to join ASCAP, and will skip SAZAS because it’s worthless.
    So does anyone know do i need only W-8BEN formular or also 1040NR(Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return) probably, all this paperwork is’t my best and most loved work.

    #25655 Reply
    Kubed
    Participant

    They will need the W-8BEN form and it’s best to contact IRS over the phone to get your ITIN number (the phone option will take you about 10 minutes while the mail option will take 6-8 weeks (!!!) until you get it by mail and involves a LOT of paperwork – yeah,i learned it the hard way!).
    Get the ITIN number first so you can put it on your W-8BEN form then.

    #25656 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    cool thanks a lot, but i stil don’t get it.
    I need to send W-8BEN + 1040NR(Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return) i probably get tax back, because i am non resident of US?
    what is this ITIN number good for?

    what do i need so they can get me ITIN, i was on hold for 25 minutes and now i can’t wait anymore i will call back later.

    #25657 Reply
    Kubed
    Participant

    I’m not sure why ASCAP asks for a 1040nr form.
    BMI didn’t ask for it.

    ITIN (or EIN) is optional but if you don’t get it,the US companies you’ll work with (like AS) will withhold 30% of your earnings for tax reasons…that’s what the ITIN is good for!

    Greece has a 0% tax treaty with the US and maybe that’s why i wasn’t asked for a 1040nr form.
    Slovenia has a 5% tax treaty with the US though so,maybe that’s why they asked you for a 1040nr form.

    Check the link below,it’s quite informative (and maybe it’s best to ask for an EIN number instead of ITIN – many other artists did the same recently);

    Avoiding 30% Withholding Tax on Royalties For Non-US Amazon Self Publishers

    It might be a bit too much paperwork but you’ll do it only once (several companies you’ll work with will ask for a W-8BEN as well so,keep a copy of the correctly completed one).

    #25658 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    you are the best man, you saved me ton of headacke, even due i already have one from all this 🙂

    they didn’t ask me for 1040NR i just read in W-8BEN about it and thought i need one?

    thanks again, i will report back how it went down.

    #25659 Reply
    Kubed
    Participant

    You’re welcome!

    Ask ASCAP (or whichever PRO you join) if they need a 1040nr form.

    Other than that,you only need a W-8BEN form (it might look intimidating at first glance but it really isn’t) and a EIN number if you want to avoid the 30% deduction (recommended!).

    Good luck!

    #25660 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    thanks, but if i want EIN i need to open company later, so what is the process & fee for ITIN?
    is there any difference regarding tax if you register with EIN or ITIN, i don’t know nothing about it.
    Stil first it would be nice to collect some royalties, but i want to start clean, not to have problems later, when i will forget about this.

    How do you guys pay taxed from royalties?

    have a good productive day!

    #25661 Reply
    Kubed
    Participant

    I don’t think you have to open a company if you get a EIN.
    There’s no fee involved for ITIN (apart from the phone call of course!) and i think the same applies to EIN.

    Check the link below:

    itin number and libraries

    Imo,the safer thing to do is call IRS,tell them why you need a tax number and ask what’s the difference between these 2.I’m sure they’ll guide you accordingly.

    I got an ITIN number almost 4 years ago but then i didn’t know about EIN,neither the phone option.It took me 10 weeks to get the papers back and involved a TON of paperwork.

    And yes,it’s better to have everything ready before you start pitching your music to libraries.

    #25663 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    beautiful, as much as i lost energy for day and a half to go trough all of this, today i called got immediately a connection and in 15 minutes i got EIN number, which she said is active straight away! 🙂

    first step done now i need to fill out W-8BEN.

    #25664 Reply
    Jure
    Participant

    i don’t know if this will work, but on W-8BEN and in ASCAP registration form it is said to fill ITIN or SNN(which is also different format)?
    will it be ok, if i put my EIN in?

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