What % Unpaid

[jdstamper]

Comparing Tunesat detections to BMI statements since 2021, it appears I haven’t been paid any royalties on around 15% of my placements. I’m only counting detections that are older, I know it can take awhile to be paid esp from overseas. Most of these detections are more like 2 years old or more. Only 1 is a domestic US placement (it airs often ?) … the rest are all European detections.

Of course I’m not counting any royalty free libraries. I only have 50 cues in Tunesat, and I know Tunesat doesn’t detect a lot of my placements, so the actual % unpaid could be higher. I didn’t realize there were so many unpaid until I took a closer look.

A few times over the years I’ve tried to follow-up with BMI and libraries on unpaid royalties. Everyone seems sincerely willing to help, but in the end still no royalties. Maybe someday I’ll get an adjustment, but I’ve pretty much given up on those … as more effort than its worth.

Has your experience been this bad? Have you found better ways to collect European royalties?

[Art Munson]

I gave up a while back on trying to reconcile Tunesat with my BMI statments. I was told that there are times when there is a last minute schedule change from what show is run and the schedule Tunesat has.

[jdstamper]

What I’ve read is that Tunesat always uses audio matching as the show is actually aired. So if the show never aired, there shouldn’t be a detection. But they use schedules to provide some additional context after the airing, such as the episode title, and episode number.

I did have one instance a month ago where Tunesat gave the wrong show title, etc … for a detection. But it had been corrected the next time I looked at it a few days later.

[MaxPower]

I do not see any value in using Tunesat. As I understand it Tunesat does not have any affiliation with – or report usage to – any PRO’s, yet they charge an extortionate amount of money for their service? I appreciate that they were one of the very first detection services out there but times have moved on and we now have many choices when it comes to registering our music for detection.
I’ve found that registering my tracks with Soundmouse (who are affiliated with the PRS in the UK where I am based) has really helped with detection and reporting. My income has also increased since I’ve been using the service. I’d recommend Soundmouse and Bmat (I was advised to register with both) as they report detections directly to the PRO’s, and they are free.

[jdstamper]

Very interesting about Soundmouse & Bmat, I’ll have to check them out. I can’t justify the price of Tunesat, so I’m only at the free level which is 50 songs.

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