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Disagree……… It is not complicated at all. One must learn one’s business. EG SX do pay not only for FA’s but also for NFA’s……… but who among you agreed the FA’s should be paid 95% !!
Agreed, the US is a mess, but then so is Europe etc.
Production music is paid for in the EU…….. where does the money go?Les
The closest thing here is what Sound Exchange collects for featured performers and producers within the narrow scope of non-interactive digital performances on DSPs.
Non featured performers are paid by SX but only 5% of the gross [to be distributed].
Musicians are only paid 2.5% while g/b singers are paid 2.5% not quite ‘equal’ !L
Non featured performers are paid by SX but only 5% of the gross [to be distributed].
Musicians are only paid 2.5% while g/b singers are paid 2.5% not quite ‘equal’ !Who qualifies for neighboring rights may vary from country to country. There was a decision a few years back, I think in the Netherlands, in which the court distinguished between the musicians and producers whose contributions to a recording were sufficient to claim NR royalties. Producers, for example, had to have economic skin in the game, not only creative input.
Moreover, with SoundExchange the performer and producer royalties are a percentage of the recording owners royalties, not in addition to. The owner of the master recording had to assign that percentage to the performers and producers. This may be different under the MMA, but it’s not something that I’ve had reason to research for anyone.
Folks.
Unlike most CMO’s in the EU, PPL in the UK does not recognize ‘Library’ music.
It is a huge bone of contention.
Your performers share is held by MCPS who forward due performer income to the owners !!Les
Just received this from DavidS:
“I wanted to share my experience of working with NRG. They are a Neighbouring Rights royalty collection service the I have signed up with. I am based in the UK with catalogs with DeWolfe and Sonoton that are used internationally. I was unsuccessful getting any Neighbouring Rights out of the PPL as they said they don’t collect for library pieces, But I have now opted out of PPL for this collection and NRG have found me royalties that were previously unclaimed.
Here is the contact details for Chris who is my contact chris.chirico@nrg-agency.com
Highly recommended for any library composer.”Highly recommended for any library composer.
Just to clarify, Neighboring Rights/Related Rights involve performers and producers. They are not a composer’s right. Because the US is not a signatory member of the Rome Treaty which applies to performers and producers, Neighboring Rights remuneration is generally not available to US performers and producers. There may be exceptions under limited circumstances. See this FAQ answer from NRG’s website.
WHAT ABOUT U.S. WRITERS? I HAVE HEARD THAT U.S. RECORDINGS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO COLLECT NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS ROYALTIES.
It is true that U.S. recordings and artists/musicians generally have a smaller scope of protection of their neighbouring rights in the world. However, there are countries where you are entitled to receive royalties and we will make sure that we collect on your behalf where possible
Neighboring Rights IS very complicated and I can tell you that no one composer will be able to pull it off without a service that specializes in this area. I suggest that anyone seeking to collect Neighboring Rights royalties sign a deal with an admin “collector guy” who knows what they are doing.
I happen to be working with a guy who once worked at sound exchange, but now has his own company where all he does is dig around in various databases around the world to find my Neighboring Rights royalties. He takes 20% of all he finds for me and he does share original source statements, but the reality is I never would have had a chance of finding these little extra gems of money without this guy so I will gladly sacrifice 20%.
I do not want to mention the name of the guy or company that is providing this service for me because I do not want him overwhelmed with inquiry’s. Do your research and find a Neighboring Rights collection service that can tap you into this revenue stream. (if you are an experienced Production Music composer distributed worldwide, properly registered at PROS, and have a large catalog getting a lot of usage on TV, films, ads, etc….)
The guy I have knows his shet and is dialed into the right people cutting the checks.
It was well worth my time to sign a deal to have this company hunt down my Neighboring Rights royalties in Europe, Brazil, Asia, Australia. I got going with this revenue stream in 2019, and here are my quarterly statement earnings:
614
1623
96
916
387
141
102
215
118
108
269
711
413
126
1404
1943I have no idea why these earnings are so inconsistent and all over the map but again, I do NOT know how to chase these down, but someone does for me so I will gladly give them 20% to chase on my behalf. Neighboring Rights is not a USA operation.
Sound Exchange will not have much if any money for Production Music Library composers focusing on TV, film, and ad sync (and even youtube video sync). To my knowledge sound exchange is all about digital radio airplay. Can our instrumental music get streams on Pandora, SiriusXm, etc….probably, but my hunch would be that this rarely happens, but I really do not know. I do know that Sound Exchange has nothing to do with Spotify, Apple, YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK, Network TV, Cable TV, nor Local TV broadcasts in the USA.
Digital royalties are fees that service providers such as Pandora, SiriusXM, and webcasters are required by law to pay for streaming musical content. These royalties are paid by the services to SoundExchange, and accompanied with playlists of all the recordings played by the service provider.
https://www.soundexchange.com/about/general-faqs/letter-direction-faqs/
So if you get a lot of streams on Sirius or Pandora…Join Sound Exchange, they may have a few pennies to toss on your lap.
I signed up with a company called NRG:
They are based in Europe and seem to be doing a decent job – I’ve had a couple of biannual statements and it’s starting to build quite nicely. They take a one time fee out of your first payment for the set up then they take 20% thereafter. In my initial conversations with them they said you can usually expect your yearly NR earnings to be between 10-15% of whatever your regular PRO income is, so definitely worth doing.
Just got another couple of checks for Neighboring Rights Royalties. One for myself and one for Robin. We use Rident Royalties but there a number of companies that will collect for you. Don’t leave money on the table!
I work in neighbouring rights and understand first hand how confusing and tricky it can be to get your head around it. I am all about spreading the word about this royalty and it’s ins and outs for film/television composers as well as pop artist. IAFAR’s pod cast called, “Money in the Air” on Spotify is an excellent resource for NR information. I am happy to field any questions you might have as well. Best, Chris
Hello Chris,
Why do you think composers have to tap into NR collection services to get these royalties? I find it to be frustrating that I actually have to sacrifice 20% of what is mine by using a service. PRO’s exist for composers, songwriters, and publishers to collect performance royalties on our behalf, then they pay us direct deposit 100% of what is ours.
What bothers me about NR royalties is that I am using a collection “middle man” service to collect these royalties on my behalf, they pocket 20% of what they receive first in my name. The flow of the money is from NR org in Brazil, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, etc…to the middle man’s bank account. They skim their cut (This kind of annoys me) then they send me my cut. I really do not know how much, nor how often the middle man collects from these countries in all honesty.
So when do you think NR will develop a more transparent system so that writers and composers and publishers can just collect this revenue stream without “middle man expertise”?
Are you willing to list all NR orgs we’d have to set up accounts with (or affiliate with) to bypass the middleman expert? It’s astonishing that the middle men can present contracts that state “I can collect this pubisher/ writer/ composer’s royalties first, on their behalf, then pay them after the money comes to me first.”
This is not exactly “artist friendly” because we have no choice but to lose 20% of the pie.. I look forward to your response.
I long for the day when middle men are out of the picture.
Just received notice that our neighboring rights royalty (international), for this quarter, is a tad over $1500. Best one to date.
Don’t let that money slip through your fingers! Check out our Music Royalty Cheat Sheet (and this thread) on how to participate.
I know I should probably just read my contracts, but does anyone know if some libraries don’t want composers to sign up to services like Rident or other NR “middle man”? Are libraries taking advantage of that already, or are they also leaving money on the table?
I would not count on that. Best to check with any libraries you are working with.
Hi Guys! Can you still collect neighboring rights royalties for music you have signed to Non-Exclusive Libraries and RF sites?
Cheers
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