Home › Forums › General Questions › Recovering PRO money from ASCAP with Tunesat Info
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April 10, 2014 at 5:09 am #15802AdviceParticipant
I read awhile back that ASCAP will not accept Tunesat detection information for recovering royalties. Given that, I’m wondering what the value would be for an ASCAP member, other than keeping a general eye on where your music is used.
What have your experiences been with royalty recovery due to Tunesat?
Art, if this is in the wrong section, please move it, thanks!
April 10, 2014 at 6:18 am #15804MichaelLParticipantBefore I switched to BMI, an ASCAP exec told that they would not accept tunesat data. BMI told me that they would at least “look” at tunesat data in a effort to identify missing performances.
In an instance where tunesat detects a use and no cue sheet was filed, you can try to get the producer to file a cue sheet. (so that is its basic value).
In the case where a cue sheet was filed, but ASCAP didn’t detect the performance, you are probably S.O.L. The survey rules.
In contrast, I believe that SESAC does accept tunesat data. But, I could be wrong. (So, why doesn’t everybody join SESAC?…not everybody gets in)
ASCAP and BMI will tell you that they have detection systems in place, but right now they are only used to detect radio performances, of mostly popular music.
April 10, 2014 at 6:45 am #15806AdviceParticipantI’m thinking about trying the free 50 track thing. But it might end up being more for fun and ego than the money, at least at first. It might be interesting to see if I had a lot of usages I never knew about. And of course, it would be a fun “first alert” of new placements. I just have to get up the energy to sort thru, pick, and upload 50 tracks!
Is the free thing just a 30 day trial? I would assume so.
With a limit of 50, I’d probably have to only upload instrumentals and backing tracks. My backing tracks get used a lot on reality TV shows.
April 10, 2014 at 6:55 am #15809AlpacaRoomParticipantAdvice, I think the new “free” account is free “forever,” but limits you to 50 tracks and 50 detections a month (and it seems that the months run by calendar, not by signup date).
I signed up pretty much out of curiosity, and it seems like one library in particular, whom I only have 8 or 10 cues with, all signed recently, is placing a lot of my music … I might have to think about signing some more cues with them.
April 10, 2014 at 7:04 am #15810AdviceParticipantIf it’s free forever, I think I’ll give it a shot. Just gotta get organized as far as the 50 masterpieces I will let them work with. 😉
Thanks!
April 10, 2014 at 8:52 am #15815guscaveGuestI had an issue last year where one of my tracks was not showing up on my BMI statement for 12 separate episodes of “American Pickers”. I contacted the library and forward them my Tunesat report and they in turn contacted one of their reps at BMI. The whole thing got squared away in about a week.
Luckily the problem was a simple one. BMI had the wrong count of plays on the statement but was paying me for the correct amount.April 14, 2014 at 10:09 pm #15834Desire_InspiresParticipantI think I might give the free account a shot. I have a bunch of older cues that I haven’t heard much about.
April 15, 2014 at 3:00 am #15837JayGuestI have the free account and have placements showing up I wasn’t aware of…how long should I wait for a cue sheet? and if they don’t show up what’s the best way to see that they’re filed and I get paid?
April 15, 2014 at 5:04 am #15838AlpacaRoomParticipantFor what it’s worth, I’ve apparently got a cue running in a promo this week, which maxed out my free account on the second day it ran. Tunesat will tell you how many additional detections you have beyond the free 50, though, and exhort you to upgrade.
Now I just need to figure out how to actually get paid for those.
April 15, 2014 at 6:00 am #15839BobGuest@AlpacaRoom – try and find your promo on competitrack.com and send in proof of the PROMO.
To my knowledge, ASCAP has a relationship with Soundmouse to detect and confirm performances. I think all pros have their pros and cons.
ASCAP provides cue sheets on file to it’s members, yet no other U.S. pro does this.SESAC pays the fastest. I sent them proof of an ad/ promo in January and they paid me $17.25 a performance this past check for 3 performances that aired in December. Their April check was applicable to performances from Oct 1 though Dec 31, whereas ASCAP and BMI paid for July 1 through September 30 in the last check. I found this to be most impressive. I sent an e-mail, an mp3, and proof of the spot from competitrack and they paid me as publisher and writer. I made about $104 in back end. I think the spot ran another 20 times or so in Jan so it will be interesting to see what I earn in June. My ASCAP co-writer and co-publisher have not been paid anything yet for those performances as they’ll have to wait until July.
I actually have not seen any difference in royalties paid from ASCAP and BMI when analyzing statements with co writers.
SESAC was not difficult to join as writer and publisher. You simply need to provide a link to your own site so they can see that you are a professional with broadcast quality music doing professional work. That was my experience at least. SESAC is very slow to get cues registered in bulk if you provide a spreadsheet of titles and writer/ publisher info.
April 15, 2014 at 9:52 am #15840Chuck MottGuestGood seeing you here Alpaca…..
April 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm #15842MusicmattersParticipantSo i signed up for the free account and have found several detections of a track on Channel 5 (UK). It has most likely been purchased from an RF site and i have no idea whether it is worth pursuing or even how to pursue it. Any suggestions will be most welcome, THANKS
April 16, 2014 at 4:42 am #15843AlpacaRoomParticipantLikewise, Chuck! Have been lurking here awhile.
And Musicmatters, maybe I’m way off base here, but if the track is registered with your PRO, and the RF site has that info, it’s at least somewhat likely that you’ll (eventually) get international royalties from the usage.
May 5, 2014 at 7:24 am #16209MusicmattersParticipantThanks to Tunesat i just discovered a placement of mine on CNN. Would really appreciate some guidance on what to do next. I suppose i need to track down the producers of the show. It seems it may have been purchased on an RF site as it does not show any retitling. THANKS
May 5, 2014 at 8:16 am #16210AdviceParticipantHi MM
CONGRATS!
First, I assume you are sure that the RF site is the only library that has the track.
I would first contact the RF library before contacting the show producers. That’s always the process to follow unless you don’t get reasonable response & timeframe. Keep in mind that PRO’s look back quite a while and payments are 2-3 quarters behind broadcast. So there is a lot of time to get the cue sheet filed.
Good luck!
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