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Anyone using a neighboring rights administration company like NRG, Rident, Lime Blue etc? Any luck with collections, what are they charging, and how do amounts collected compare with PRO income ..30%, 1%?
Alternatively, anyone signed up to Neighboring Rights societies directly?
I recently signed with Rident so too early to tell. I believe their take is 15%
I recently signed with Rident as well. Too early to tell anything. And yeah, 15% is their take. I believe NRG is 15% as well.
A few observations/questions:
Outside the context of non-interactive digital streams, U.S. performers aren’t generally eligible for NR remuneration.
Rident collects royalties for non-interactive digital streams, which is what SoundExchange collects. Is joining Rident redundant if your works are already registered with SE?
And, can you use Rident services if you’re streaming via AudioSparx/RadioSparx?
I’m with Rident as well. Over the course of a year the NR income is a nice extra income source – about 0.5% – 1% of what my royalties are. Music in non US based libraries definitely makes up the bulk of that NR income though.
Hi All,
The short answer is that attempting to collect neighboring rights royalties via SoundExchange or services like Rident is problematic for participating with RadioSparx.
First, under the terms of our content license agreement, neighboring rights (NR) are among the rights that composers/performers agree to direct license to our clients and customers. NR royalties, therefore, are included in the fees that we collect from our clients and customers and which we then distribute to our vendor content providers (whcih can be a composer, label, publisher, artist, producer, band, etc.) who then split the earnings with the stakeholders for each track as appropriate.
This is very beneficial in the context of in-store commercial background music because every performance is counted and the proper rights holders are compensated. As with US PROs, foreign collective management organizations (CMOs) have no accurate way of identifying which tracks are performed as in-store background music in commercial venues, and the money collected rarely reaches the proper rights holder. They use arcane payout formulas that are based on which artists are receiving radio play within each country, and who is touring and performing in live venues within each country, which completely skews payouts to major label artists only (yes for YOUR music!! — it’s outrageous!)
Other problems also arise because, in many countries, these CMOs try to assert a monopoly position and unlike the US, their membership agreements are exclusive, and, as such, they do not recognize a rightsholder’s ability to direct license. Also, by signing up with services like Rident to collect your NR you are setting up a “double-dipping” situation which foreign collective management organizations (CMOs) work against aggressively, often with militant force, causing massive significant legal challenges for RadioSparx which we constantly have to expend resources fighting.
In a perfect world, composers and performers should have complete autonomy with regard to controlling their catalog, including the ability to assign different categories of rights to different organizations, while also managing and direct-licensing those rights individually or through companies like AudioSparx/RadioSparx. In some territories, the law is moving slowly in that direction, but it’s not there yet. Until then, unfortunately, using services like Rident to collect neighboring rights is not compatible with participating with AudioSparx and RadioSparx.
Regards,
Lee Johnson
lee@audiosparx.comRident is in the US (where I’m located), I had other composers recommend them, they were very responsive. That did it.
I have been with Rident for over a year now and highly recommend them. My first payment was in the four figures and I was overjoyed. It has dwindled to about 4% of my royalty income nut it is steady. Too bad the US never signed on to the Geneva convention or we would be earning a lot more.
I’m with NRG and did get a nice payment in 4 figures.
How do your exclusive libraries feel about a service like Rident? Is there a conflict of interest?
John
Too bad the US never signed on to the Geneva convention or we would be earning a lot more.
That would be the Rome Convention.
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