Tip – Search for unclaimed royalties with your PRO

[CloudNineAudio]

I just discovered that I was owed some money for a TV placement, because the cue sheet said ‘Alex’ instead of ‘Alexander’. Out of curiosity, I searched the PRS database with the names of some of the regular posters on here, and almost everyone has unclaimed royalties.

It’s worth checking with your own PRO, and try searching for any pseudonyms or variations of your actual name… If you don’t claim it, then the PRO will eventually keep it for themselves.

Post below if you find anything!

[Mark_Petrie]

Hey CloudNineAudio, Looks like you have to have an account with them to see those details. Are you talking about MCPS royalties?

[CloudNineAudio]

Hi Mark, it seems to be standard performing royalties, as far as I can tell. You have 11 results, although some are collaborations. I thought other PROs would have a similar searchable database of unclaimed royalties, but I might be wrong.

[Mark_Petrie]

Can I ask a favour of you? Could you please email me a screen grab of what you find under my name? It would be super interesting to know what they are listing as unclaimed. Could be that I’d have to set up a MCPS account to claim them. I’ll owe you a favour : )

Thanks,

Mark
mark@markpetrie.com

[CloudNineAudio]

No problem, I just sent it.

I spoke with the PRS about the MCPS recently… It sounds like it’s only worth joining if you publish your own tracks, and I don’t think you can back-claim any royalties from before the date you join anyway.

[Mark_Petrie]

Thanks! Yeah I figured as much. Even the smaller libraries I work with have joined MCPS for this reason. It’s done so differently in the US – the PROs don’t have set licensing fees like in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

[Mike Marino]

Very interesting. Thanks for the heads-up!

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