Do You Ever Earn PRO Royalties from Royalty Free Sites

[Wingnut]

I’ve never used any Royalty Free sites, but was wondering if you ever earn backend PRO Royalties from these type of sites?  Do they take your PRO details when you upload, as some sites like musicloops state that you’ll never have to pay broadcast royalties – what if they get on a network, surely that triggers royalty payments.  Any good royalty free sites out there that sell AND do pay backend royalties where applicable?

[Jay]

I’ve sold some tracks on those types of sites and had the “higher” license fee paid – I assumed that it was for broadcast…unfortunately nothing ever showed in my ASCAP account (at least not yet) I also had a couple stings that were selling frequently at those sites and even thought I heard them on Tv a couple of times but again no royalties as of yet…Cue sheets don’t always get filled out correctly it seems..

[Art Munson]

Generally no but I have one cue, in particular, that gets purchased over and over again off of a RF site and is used constantly on NBC and CBS sports shows. I can only imagine that the same client re-purchases for each show.

Initially I found it being used via my Tunesat account. When it showed up on my PRO statement they had the composers listed correctly but the wrong publisher info. I contacted BMI and they straightened that out. I title my RF cues differently so I had a pretty good idea where it was purchased.

[Blind]

Best I can tell a vast majority of music purchased on RF sites is for web video and is rarely used for broadcast. I have sold plenty of tracks via RF sites and never had one show up on a cue sheet.

[Wingnut]

Thanks for the feedback.  Just wondering if the RF sites provide a good regular income as it’s at least an upfront fee unlike the randomness of backend on broadcast tunes that usually have no licencing fee.

[Art Munson]

“Just wondering if the RF sites provide a good regular income”

Back end PRO income, for me, is way better than RF income.

[Wingnut]

Thanks Art – be good to find a library that offers the best of both worlds .i.e. a steady stream of upfront fees, and also generating PRO royalties even if for those tracks they’re on a gratis deal – can but dream!

[Blind]

In most cases RF income is hardly worth the trouble of uploading/tagging/etc and it only seems to be getting worse in the flooded market.

[Author]

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