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Well, MichaelL… Think of it as not just answering one troll. When you post advice on a forum you are also providing information to anyone else reading. If even one other person gains something from it, it’s worth it.
Best,
ADI, desperation is never a good thing. Everyone has to make their own choice but I’ve seen you agree to performance-free deals, lower your RF prices, etc.
I get that you are a part-timer and not looking to make a living at film/TV music. I’m also a part-timer. But I maintain certain limits so as not to hurt myself and/or my fellow composers.
Better to up your game as far as the quality of your music than to go after the lowest of the low.
Although I would never advise anyone against filing copyright registrations, I stopped doing these a long time ago. My reasons:
(1) Stealing is still fairly rare. Not saying it doesn’t happen but not enough for me to worry about it especially if we’re talking about an instrumental that will at best end up on reality TV.
(2) As Michael L has pointed out a few times, a copyright gives you the evidence you need to file a copyright infringement lawsuit. [Edited by moderator] Very few of us will ever have a track that could create that much in damages (e.g. someone steals a song and it goes on to be recorded by Katy Perry… or ends up as the theme song to a major hit TV show).
All this being said, I probably should register my best vocal songs because they would be at the most risk, I’d imagine. I don’t think a 2 minute reality TV instrumental is much of an issue.
This is NOT legal advice as I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV… or on MLR.
🙂It probably takes some time (maybe 6-8 weeks). When you say you “just signed up”, do you mean you already got your membership cards with member numbers? (Member numbers are not the same as CAE/IPI numbers). Was your publishing company name approved?
Best thing to do is simply call ASCAP Member Services and ask… 1-800-95-ASCAP…
Off the top of my head, I can’t see why it would be a problem since you are still entitled to Writer’s Share. You are not uploading to Tunesat to violate any terms of your WFH agreement.
It would be similar to a situation whereby you wrote a song, signed the copyright to a publisher, and it was recorded by an artist. You might want to track TV usage of the song.
That being said, you could check the terms on the Tunesat site and see if it says anything about you having to be the actual copyright holder.
I probably shouldn’t have said “TV Guide”… It was generic for the network’s planned program schedule. Not sure where their schedule comes from. Good to know, Art, that they make corrections based on updated info.
It seems it’s only a month trial. I uploaded 50 tracks. I got 88 detections in a month then it says I have more detections but I need to upgrade if I want to see them.
AFAIK the free trial is not limited to one month. It is limited to 50 cues and 50 detections/month but not time limited. Some more advanced features are also not available on the free account.
One thing to be aware of is you have the same tracks in multiple libraries, Tunesat will not differentiate by titles. So you won’t know which library made the placement. It goes purely by audio fingerprinting. Titles and metadata are for your own benefit and have no bearing on detection/identification.
Also, when Tunesat identifies a particular episode it is not always right. It uses the TV guide schedule to line up time of detection with what show. So if the network made a last minute schedule change such as showing episode X instead of episode Y, you might get a false detection.
I love the free account even with the limitations. The paid accounts really do require that you make significant income and therefore the cost/benefit ratio make it worth it.
For *most* film/TV music, authentic rules in all aspects of your track, unless specified otherwise by the requesting party. For example, let’s say a track is retro in the vein of Cream for the late ’60s. Most placement opportunities would be use of the tune in a scene from that era and/or “source music” whereby the tune is coming out of a radio or jukebox. If you use production techniques that couldn’t possibly have existed back then, it won’t work.
If you’re imitating the general sound of a band that has a garage/lo-hi sound and you make your mix too clean, it may not work for the same reasons. Music sups and editors, especially in higher end stuff, want authenticity.
Same applies to lyric style matching the music. If you write a Black Keys style track with lyrics that sound more like Joni Mitchell, it won’t fly.
Make your music, lyrics, production all come together as an authentic fit.
Yes, YMMV and I’m sure the streets are lines with exceptions. But go with the odds. 🙂
I think part of the “flood” in this business has been caused by the mistaken impression that there’s easy money to be made, and a lot of it. So, I’m really curious to understand what the source and/or sources of that impression may be.
I think that mistaken impression goes for both libraries and composers. So many new libraries jumped in, especially in the NE world, and are still jumping in every day.
There *IS* good money to be made (e.g. money you could live on or that would provide a substantial supplement) but not everyone understands that you have to be extremely prolific and it can take 5-10 years to build up to that income level.
Start saving for a new cup holder for your Ferrari. 400 more placements like this and you can buy it!
Seriously, placements on many smaller cable channels pay very little. There are many factors that include length of cue (8 secs ain’t much), time of day for broadcast, foreground vs. background (most placements like this are background), the particular channel, etc.
With longer cues on shows that re-run a lot, it adds up but nothing spectacular. Some channels such as MTV get much better PRO payments.
In the BG reality TV cue market, it’s definitely a numbers game. You need tons of cues out there working for you.
I love that BMI doesn’t require a publisher’s account for simple registrations on direct placements.
Yes, with ASCAP if you want to collect the publisher’s share on your own, you must set up a publishing entity.