Registering cues with ASCAP/BMI

[ypb2857]

I’m writing cues daily and spreading them out to a variety of exclusive and non-exclusive libraries. How diligent should I be about personally registering them at BMI/ASCAP?

I know the business models are changing under our feet and some of the non-exclusives are doing that “semi-retitle” dance like “Songname LI” (where LI = library initials) so I would assume they are registering it at BMI/ASCAP their way? I also assume, since the majority of exclusive libraries are taking the publishing, I can just leave it to them to register (since it’s in their vested interests to do so).

Should I be registering the non-exclusive ones at BMI/ASCAP myself under their original titles? Or should I just let the libraries or end clients take care of it?

[Art Munson]

Should I be registering the non-exclusive ones at BMI/ASCAP myself under their original titles? Or should I just let the libraries or end clients take care of it?

The libraries will most likely only register it under the title they will use.

[ypb2857]

So…should I be registering myself under the original names?

What happens if circumstances change later, e.g. I register it myself and keep 100% of the publishing, but later sign it to an exclusive library that takes publishing for themselves?

[Jay]

So…should I be registering myself under the original names?

What happens if circumstances change later, e.g. I register it myself and keep 100% of the publishing, but later sign it to an exclusive library that takes publishing for themselves?

I register all my stuff under the original title in the event of a direct license or a purchase of a track at a RF site that happens to end up on TV…it’s simple and much easier than trying to chase that $ down with your PRO..if you sign to an exclusive you may have to transfer publishing but exclusive isn’t anything I’ll ever do so some here with more experience might be able to answer that more effectively..Jay

[music_pro]

No, the title registered by the non exclusive company will stay forever under their publishing company for the placements they managed to secure for you. If you pull out that track from the non exclusive company and sign it to an exclusive one, then the exclusive one re-title the track or just revice your original title.

[ypb2857]

So since I don’t do RF libraries, is there any point in registering them with BMI/ASCAP myself?

Basically – another way to ask the question – if I’ve got my music inside various non-excl and excl libraries, will they register them either upon submission or upon successful license?

[Art Munson]

Basically – another way to ask the question – if I’ve got my music inside various non-excl and excl libraries, will they register them either upon submission or upon successful license?

Depends on the library. Some register on submission, some on placement.

[ypb2857]

So do we trust them? 🙂

Should I bother taking the (huge) amount of time to manually register thousands of cues? Or can I trust they’ll be registered by libraries?

[Art Munson]

Should I bother taking the (huge) amount of time to manually register thousands of cues? Or can I trust they’ll be registered by libraries?

I don’t worry about it. They will get picked off the cue sheet even if they are not registered.

[Musicmatters]

Hello all… I was wondering if you normally register all edits of a cue including timed edits such as 30 sec 60 sec and also mix edits such as No lead etc separately with ASCAP in the case of working with RF or NE libraries. These things get so confusing sometimes… thanks for responding. 🙂

[Art Munson]

Yes, they should all be registered separately.

[Author]

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