BUMA anyone have experience with them?

[Glenn]

Hello All,

I’ve heard and read about some dutch composers jumped ship to BMI and Ascap. What are your thoughts about that? And are you with BUMA or did you jumped to another PRO yourself?

Would be nice to learn from your experience and your thoughts!

Thanks,
Glenn

[Glenn]

Not so much dutch musicians over here? 🙂

[sboulogne]

Hi Glenn,

I saw this post. I am also kooking to switch from BUMA to BMI. Did you actually switch?

Best,

Sander

[ORPM]

I am Gema and can only switch new pieces…the old ones remain Gema ( I was told…I didn’t switch)
Whats the Problem with BUMA? Ascap and BMI dont pay mechanicals in USA only CESAC pays mechanicals….I think Buma does, but don’t know…

[johnnyboy]

Had to Google them: https://www.bumastemra.nl/en/authors-publishers/ Cost to join is more expensive than the USA PRO’s. Seems there’s an anual fee as well as a join-=up fee.
For a songwriter, membership costs:

€45.76 one-off affiliation charge
€63.55 annual contribution
This means you pay €109.31 in the first year. That’s $128.72 in US dollars.

[sboulogne]

You get back the annual contribution. They all pay writers base royalty if 65 euro’s

Most of my publishers are in the US so I think it makes sense to join a US pro. Also, at BUMA the royalty statement is very minimal. You don’t get to see which track does what.

best,

Sander

[ORPM]

thats why we use tunesat…

[Ruiz]

Hi Sander,

I switched from Buma to ASCAp three years ago.
It has it’s pro’s and cons.
You get paid much earlier, that is every quarter..with Buma it can take three years before they will have all the backend wired to their account.
The main con is, at least ASCAP still sends you paper cheques, which are impossible to cash in The Netherlands.
It took me three years to convince the ASCAP administration that this way of payment is outdated in Europe.

The hardest part of the switching is timing.
You have to cancel your US royalty agreemen with Bumat, but this only possible once a year..I can’t remember if it has to be at the start of a new year.
After that you are free to join ASCAP.
Please check with Buma on the precise timing

Good luck!! and feel free to ask me anything more!

Best,

Roeland

[johnnyboy]

“The main con is, at least ASCAP still sends you paper cheques, which are impossible to cash in The Netherlands.”

Can’t they make a direct deposit into your bank account?

John

[Ruiz]

Ascap held off on it for a very long time, they only make direct deposits to a US bank account, which is impossible to procure for a non-US resident.
After three years they helped me with a wire transfer..

Roeland

[sboulogne]

Thanks Roeland!

My problem is what they do with my current catalog. There are registration at BMI and Ascap in my name. BUMA should collect from them as they are connected through my IPI number. It’s a bit vague what would happen if I terminate my BUMA account and switch to BMI. BMI doesn’t collect from Ascap so how do I keep getting the royalties from my current catalog.

Sander

[Ruiz]

Hi Sander,

I wouldn’t terminate my Buma account, because the royalties and backend from European countries will be processed much faster through Buma.
With Buma I would exempt the royalties from the US, that will give you a big advantage.
And I believe you can have a Ascap and BMI account simultaneously.
I would register your tracks both with ASCAP, BMI and Buma, so that you don’t miss any royalties altogether.

That’s what I did and until now it works fine.

best,

Roeland

[sboulogne]

Thanks Roeland, I will keep that in consideration.
Did you get to keep your IPI number when switching?

[ORPM]

This is interesting! What is the sense in having both bmi and ascap membership? I can understand that being member with 1 EU and 1 US PRO has the advantage of being paid directly instead of waiting 2-3 years but once a song is registered let’s say with ascap what does bmi do differently or vice versa?

[sboulogne]

From what I understand is that you can only be member at one PRO at the time, or you exempt a region or country. I don’t think they allow you too be member of Ascap and BMI at the same time and can lead to strange situations when two parties are collecting in the same country.

[Author]

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