Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
5. For those of us who work at ASCAP, our duty is to ensure that ASCAP survives to EXPLOIT the next generation of creators and publishers.
Fixed that for you…. 🙂 🙂
I basically agree with music1234 – people watching TV and the revenue from that specific music use will / should be up.
BUT – I have no doubts that our PRO’s will use the situation to “spin” the numbers to their particular view of who should get paid what. Make no mistake, a good portion of the TV broadcast royalties will be headed towards indie hipster songwriters who have been decimated.
I’m much more worried about other aspects of the business as opposed to a virus based impact. As mentioned, viewership of shows is UP!! As for streaming royalties, PRO moving funds where they like, PRO NON transparency in accounting, subscription models gaining traction, networks feeling that they want to go direct license, production companies trying to take all the publishing of music they didn’t even commission, etc…..that’s what I’m concerned with.
Everyone else I knew was down about 25% this statement. I was UP over last statement about 25%, but actually puts me just maybe a little higher – a few percentage points – above what I would consider normal because last quarter was poor for me.
What was disconcerting is that there were several anomalies and I’m not sure if I even want to go after them. Streaming was down considerable, with pretty much the same “numbers” as last quarter in terms of plays. There were several “trending” and “suggested” viewing shows on Netflix that did not even show up on the statement, and I KNOW that they were getting significant views.
International was definitely down this statement, but what made up for it was an abnormally high run on history channel. Not sure what is up with that, but when / if it corrects to what I would normally see, the payments are going to be down significantly, and it looks to me like all the myriads of cable channels that use to not pay big, but added together were substantial are down in the gutter.
Glad I did decent this quarter, but upon analysis, it’s making the future look quite dim….. Time for a new career. (Again). This is not sustainable long term, and as mentioned, if next year goes lower due to Covid-19, it’s going to be chump change. Not enough to “live on”.
Adding content for me does not seem to.offset the marching decline of payable rates. Even streaming is declining. At least it SEEMS to be, but hard to tell because trying to get any info out of BMI is like talking to a brick wall.
Can you be a little more specific. I can’t really see sending the FCC letter about a library starting with an M. Name names, or continue on in the decline. If there are notorious culprits, call them out!!
Should we call out these libraries engaging in this morally bankrupt practice?
Hellz yeah!!! Shout em out. Boinkee should let us know in his situation. If you (m1234) have something to say – SAY IT!!
To the best of my knowledge, I don’t have anything on Scripps, but who knows…..maybe I do. Heck, I’ve been doing this long enough, I probably do. But I have no direct knowledge.
From my understanding…PRO’s grant the right for a composer to do a direct license outside of the PRO’s jurisdiction so that composers have “some rights to do what they want” (legalese? haha) with their own material. I think that’s a federal law. MichaelL would know.
WE – (composers) – US right here – hand over that right to the publisher, who always says it’s too difficult to parse all the details to deliver up pennies. But the pennies add up to dollars which add up to thousands when you have thousands of placements on cable TV. I know for a fact that even the big, big BIG libraries are letting these details slip thru the cracks while they still pull down big salaries with nice offices. I have first hand knowledge of that with hundreds / thousands of tunesat detections not having cue sheets @ BMI. That was last time I checked with the publisher. Who mysteriously isn’t too worried about getting to the bottom of things. Wonder why?
Complete con. The music library that did the direct license deal for scripps is laughing all the way to the bank. Crooks!
How ironic to think a composer might get anything other than pennies at best from a show called “American Greed”. Too funny.
You do not have permission to view this content.I would not sign an agreement that said that. Essentially – from what I take out of the wording – you’re signing an agreement that says that they can change things and make it whatever they want in the future. Insanity.
Beware….
Oh, I’m not an attorney though – but I’ve signed more than a fair number of contracts in my time. There are some attorney’s floating around these parts though. Maybe they will pop in.
Thanks guys. M1234 – got your message. (And I pretty much understand the “method” – more or less). I was just wondering how often BMI/ASCAP actually DO THEIR JOB without handholding and cajoling.
IMO, it’s high time for a production music focused PRO. One that takes only seasoned writers who actually are putting out a lions share of broadcast music. One that could care less about the newest hipster indie artist or their booth at SXSW or Coachella. I’d change over in a heartbeat even if it meant a few years of down royalties, cause I know long term, if writers embraced it, it would end up dwarfing ASCAP and BMI and relegate them to bottom feeder status. We are all pretty much aware of where the big $$ is coming from, and who / where it gets doled out to.
Time for a change.
Sorry you guys have to work so hard for something that should just “show up” on your email.
Here’s a question for you guys who do a lot of commercials – maybe Art and/or Music 1234 (or anyone else). Does ASCAP and/or BMI ever just track and pick up the commercials for you – like they should – with no effort on your part? Or are you always left tracking them down, doing the legwork, and trying to get them paid by your own efforts? Just curiosity from a TV underscore guy….
Am I reading this correctly that some people here have *millions* of placements and make pennies?
Yes. You read that correctly. Amazon VOD. Almost 20 million, around $100USD.
would the PRO’s on MLR recommend a newcomer keep most of their tracks in NON-Exclusive libraries?
My strategy is to keep as much control as possible to remain flexible for the future.
Yes. Follow the money. The money lies with the content. I’m trying as much as possible to keep control of my creative works.
so its safe to estimate that folks who started out within the past few years would hit a ceiling thats 1/3 what the vets make in a decade or so
1/3 is a big guesstimate if you’re still getting network, cable and commercial plays. Once it all goes streaming, unless things improve (and I suspect they will the deeper we get) – then you can expect 1/20th payouts at today’s rates.
At least that’s the closest I can figure, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time crunching the numbers.
Again, all from the perspective of a composer (Me) who had a ton of cable, and some network all go streaming.