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If you know the library, ask them.
@JohnMac. Sounds like they direct licensed it (no PRO payment). There is very little transparency in this business so your best bet is to ask the library, who placed it, as to what the rate is.
If it is mediocre and you think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread
“Mediocre” is in the ear of the person/client listening and I don’t think that is a valid way to judge music. One person’s trash can be another person’s treasure.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a major company or a local body shop as to how much a PRO pays (at least for BMI). Time of day does matter AFAIK but BMI only breaks it down by Cable, Network or Local TV. They only go by how many counts (times it was played). As an example: We had a commercial running that ran mostly on Cable that paid $.775 per play. Network runs paid $14.31 per play and Local TV paid $.58 per play. We also collected publishing income on this so if you are only collecting writer royalties you would cut that in half.
As long as the writer info is on the cue sheet you should be good but always a good idea to register alternate titles with your PRO.
Depends on network, time of day, length of commercial and how long the run is for. You can get a free Tunesat account to track it and get a better idea. https://tunesat.com/tunesatportal/home
@domahidimusic: I have no problem with people speaking their mind here. What I do have a problem is when they start accusing others either directly or implying indirectly they are a fraud or their business is a scam. All of these so called accusers say they have proof but without actually supplying any of it. Interesting many of these accusers like to remain anonymous, which says a lot. Besides what would be the point?
This site is not meant to be a judge and jury and certainly does not have the financial resources to get involved in legal battles with various entities. Oven the 12 years I have been running this site I have received enough threatening letters from lawyers to learn that I am not going to be the white knight here.
Please read the “About” page here https://musiclibraryreport.com/about/ for more detail.
Bottom line, and I will say again, I would not “pay to play” but early on in my production music career I did. It was mostly a waste of money except for one instance. It led me to a library that ultimately earned us many thousands of dollars and I still have a great working relationship with them to this day.
So, it’s an individual choice. It’s a simple as that.
Here’s their site https://exploration.io/. Looks like a rights management company and they should be more helpful. Have you told them that you are the copyright holder and their client is infringing on your copyright? Tell them you will seek legal action. Should get them moving. I have similar experiences in the past and have managed to get these types of things resolved.
Folks, accusing someone of a scam or a ripoff is just conjecture with no proof. The simple question is if someone wants to pay for submissions. It’s up to the individual composer if they want to take that route. Earlier on in my career of writing production production I took that path a few times. There was one instance that it was wildly successful and our music was placed on a number of major network shows. We still have a good relationship with that library to this day. Many other times, though, paying for submissions turned into nothing. So, it’s a choice and nothing more.
That’s a very broad question and depends on the network and library. Some libraries only rely on the the back end publishing income, some may charge a blanket license fee for use of all or part of their catalog. A major network might pay but the trend has been for libraries to rely on back end royalties. Of course YMMV. 😉
I would start with the publisher.
Thanks Thomas for that great post and information! It certainly is an issue many of us have to contend with after spending decades in the music business.
Hi Bob, we have similar histories and hearing problems. Hearing aids are problematic as they are mostly designed for speech. There is also a lot of processing going on that can affect what you are really hearing. I found this article a few years ago from Rick Ledbetter that you might find interesting. https://musicandhearingaids.org/2017/01/03/musician-hearing-loss/. He ended up programming the hearings aids himself.
I ended up using a spectral analyzer and my wife’s ears (she is also a musician) to work around my hearing problems.