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I am soon to start the free trial of tunesat but I am not sure which plan is right for me. I’d like to upload as much as possible for the free month, but then I am not sure what to do. It is very expensive so I was curious if pays itself off, and how long does it take to start making money on the cue. Ex) Does it get put on the PRO statement quickly and you’ll receive payment on quarterly payout.
None of the US PROs pay on tunesat reports. Meaning, you will not be able to send tunesat data and then receive any payments based on those reports.
ASCAP, BMI and SESAC all pay based on tvdata/tms reports. So, at this point, in the US, tunesat is more for info/ego than it is money.
Hope this helpsSo, at this point, in the US, tunesat is more for info/ego than it is money.
Not necessarily. I have discovered uses there I would not have known about and collected money because of it. Mainly commercials where the music was purchased off of RF sites and unauthorized uses. The big problem is taking the time to go through the data.
has it paid for itself? Probably not but only because I can never seem to get around to being diligent about reconciling and following up.
I think it makes more sense for established composers that have a large number of cues being used for years. There are more opportunities for tunesat to detect unreported usages than someone just starting with a more limited number of cues.
I fall into the latter category and will likely end up cancelling. It’s been great to see cues being used well before they hit my pro, but the cost benefit just isn’t there for me.
50% of the non reported detections ended up being gratis usages that I can’t get any $ for. Also, tunesat misses a number of cue usages that end of being reported normally to my pro. They rest have been a long pita to get resolved, and even then they don’t bring in enough $ to justify the subscription cost.
ymmv
Ascap won’t take tunesat data either to make corrections. It’s just their policy.
Transparency is not the PROs strongest point.
I have mixed feelings about Tunesat. Customer service has been great without exception. It’s good to know how and when your music is used. With Tunesat you learn right away when a placement occurs. So, you get a 6-9 month jump on your PRO statement. This can be useful if it helps you determine what types of music to produce and submit.
However, Tunesat misses lots of placements, and almost all of my source cue placements are too soft to be detected. Occasionally detections list the wrong show or episode.
It’s true that detecting a couple of good unreported placements could pay for lots of the Tunesat service. This hasn’t happened for me, but it could.
As you increase the number of monitored tracks, the price per track comes down significantly, making it easier to justify the expense. It’s a cool service and I want to continue, but I’m not sure if I will.Yes, we know PROs will not accept Tunesat. Tunesat is just another way to try and keep track of what’s going on with our music. We have to be our own advocate and be pro-active in chasing down our money!
It really depends on who you know at the PRO’s. I had a situation last month where one of my songs which tunesat picked up did not show up on my BMI statement. I sent the information to them. They said they would look into it, but after 3 weeks I didn’t get any response.
I then sent the tunesat info to the library which had placed the song. They told me they had someone at BMI that could help. Sure enough, less than a week later the issue was resolved.
The problem was not in the amount paid to me but a reporting error on the statement. They updated the statement and I was able to see the correction online immediately.
I just can say that for me tunesat is woth the money even if the service does not work properly from time to time. But the tunesat informations I received within the last 2 years helped me to claim a lot of unreported usages and finally to receive money from my PRO.