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If they don’t file the claim, the performance royalties don’t show up. So I am sure this well known PMA library did their admin/ paper work accurately with BMI. I don’t mind doing this work because I really enjoy earning “double” the money as writer and publisher.
Heck one hour of admin time is certainly worth it when you collect the royalties twice.
Hey Art,
From I Spot: Single Care
National Airings
9,328Time to raise hell if you do not get paid in September. I have to believe though that the outcome will be in your favor….I’d inform all PMA leader peeps about this one. This one needs to go straight to the President of BMI today I’d think.
@Michael L….surely though your publisher had to have filed a claim on the spot? Someone had to inform BMI about the project.
Pleasant surprises do happen. I was paid 3K in performance royalties from Romania last year with a stock title I registered as writer and publisher. Someone in Europe had my back and reported usage accurately on my behalf.
But here in the USA, when I get wind of my music on a TV spot you can bet that I will e-mail the PRO all information I can dig up as evidence the music is airing on TV. This rule of no competitrack data = no performance royalties needs to change.
@ Intelligent and experienced UK Writers, can you please explain how the PRS processes performance royalties for TV spots? They owe me money but are not in the mood to send it to me.
I have noticed commercials being paid out without me having to track anyone down.
That is because your USA sub-publisher knows how to do the paper work and admin work on your behalf. Your sub publisher is motivated to do this work so they get paid the publishing performance royalties for the tv spot sync license they sold.
T Bone we are not tracking down “People” when we learn about our music on an advert/ tv spot. We are chasing after our “performance royalties”.
How in the heck do they deal with TV spots in the UK at the PRS? I would like someone over there who is well informed to explain it once and for all because the UK’s approach seems very complicated too…and dishonest and shady too if I may add…
Do I have to pay taxes on royalties received in BMI or ASCAP, as well as my income from licenses from libraries in the US, even if I am paying those taxes in my country?
No, you are not a USA citizen so you do not need to pay any income tax to the IRS in the USA. Foreign Societies that pay American writers royalties often just deduct taxes before we are paid. Then we receive a statement of taxes paid to foreign governments for the performance royalties we earned in England, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, etc We then need to report those foreign taxes paid to the IRS in the USA.
This is why we all work with accountants too!
Does ASCAP and/or BMI ever just track and pick up the commercials for you – like they should – with no effort on your part?
No.
Or are you always left tracking them down, doing the legwork, and trying to get them paid by your own efforts
Yes
Strat 56, ASCAP is not really in the business of shouting out how and why and when they pay writers for TV performances. Many off us -writers and publishers included – have voiced a great deal of disgust about non-payment for Big Ten Network cue sheets on file. Yes, I am looking at them with my very own eyes right now. All 1000 episodes or “Live games” that aired my music over the last 4 years and no, I have yet to receive a penny from Big Ten Network performances.
BTN is a low paying network so I’m not quite understanding things here ?
Really? is that why it’s “On” every sports bar in the country, every weekend and evenings, and homes across the USA broadcasting live sports entertainment? and advertisers spend money advertising on that network?
I agree, it’s no ABC, CBS, or NBC, but millions of folks still watch those games and hear our music.
To All Composers, writers, music producers:
It is common sense as to why direct licensing markets are creating diminishing returns. First, the market is mature and beyond saturated. Remember when stock sites bragged about having 100,000 tracks? Well they now have 1 Million. I suppose people heard a rumor that you can sell music on line and joined the party. The demand pie has not grown that much, while supply has.Your track is a needle in the hay stack.
Secondly, composers love to self destruct and devalue their works out of fear and paranoia. If you give customers a cheap deal for no reason, they’ll gladly take it. Thirdly, there has been increased competition from major disruptors who have undercut grossly and advertise heavily on social media to attract the youtube crowd
For $7 a month download our entire catalog, cancel at any time.
What are we to do? I don’t have the answer but I have kept my prices on the higher end and I seem to be holding up OK considering all of these headwinds. Every day though I am prepared to watch this implode.
At the same time, I do know that certain professional media makers simply do not care about price and they will pay a bit more to get what they need or want. These are the customers who can spend corporate money and they actually want to spend more money. That is who I try to target.
It’s up to all of us to look in the mirror and ask yourselves – are trying to have a career where you make some real money? or are you just having fun making tunes to earn weekend beer money?
The growth phase is over, it’s now a market share battle, an SEO battle, a quality battle, and unfortunately music producers have turned this into a price battle out of fear. One thing is for sure though, I have never increased my monthly earnings from lowering my prices and I have tested that. It’s a failed strategy.
Read this article:
Basically our craft and livelihood is under attack from any and all directions. Back end streaming royalties amount to fractions of pennies in royalties, sync license models are under attack every day with subscription offerings that are just too cheap to pass up. In conclusion, it does seem like we’ve hit a peak and earnings will stagnate and decline slowly. I honestly do not see how it can be possible to grow your front end, nor back end royalty earnings in today’s climate. When a 159 page 2020 PRO statement pays the same as a 17 page statement did in 2014, that certainly is not a sign of promising revenue growth. It is a sign of more work for less pay.
Check your MLR in box ro5er. I sent you a private note.
@ St0rMl0rD
I need to talk with you privately about a GEMA issue I am involved in. Art please send this gentlemen my gmail address.
We do get paid larger royalties for CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX St0rMl0rD, probably similar to German terrestrial TV.We are all complaining and protesting the streaming royalty rates and even lack of payment for some cable TV networks that millions of people watch every day: ESPN, SCRIPPS Networks, Big Ten Network, etc.
I need to speak to a German writer who is a member of GEMA. Will you be willing to communicate privately with me?
I simply don’t get it either. 159 page statement paid the same amount as a 17 page statement from 2014. I feel like I have a fixed “salary” at ASCAP.
Saw a lot of 0’s on my statement like below. It’s becoming a micro penny business. Something does not add up though. I have produced tons of music since 2014 and tons of it is getting used, statements are 130 pages longer but the pay seems to just stagnate. So many line items on these current statements that pay $0, .01, .02…etc
They used to show $3, $25, $15. Every performance seems to pay 1 cent these days. It is slightly disheartening. I have never seen so many 0’s and fractions of cents in my life on a statement. I removed my titles for privacy, but Here is a sub sample of 1 page of what I am looking at now on my foreign statement:CATEGORY: TV – Cable Retransmission
PRS-Discovery Family 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
PRS-Discovery Family 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
PRS-National Geographic 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.01
PRS-TRU TV 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
PRS-History 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.03
PRS-NGO 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.01
PRS-TRU TV 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
PRS-DIY Network 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.01
PRS-HGTV 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
Lifetime Real Women 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
Lifetime Real Women 01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00
01/01/2019-06/30/2019 $0.00And when you say you were paid $2000 from a seed company for a rural TV spot – SHOCKING!!
It is not shocking at all. I had to write a piece of music that specifically suits their brand and their audience. I had to hire and pay a great, professional singer to sing the jingle. I had to Record, mix and sell them the jingle where they can now build their brand for life with the jingle in ads, on their web site, on youtube, on facebook, etc.. Are we supposed to work for 2 days on a 60 second jingle, and pay a singer within a $200 budget? The sad fact is that there probably are music producers who actually would write a jingle, hire a singer to sing it, mix and master the tune for $200.
From my perspective they got a good, fair market rate deal at $2000.
Are video editors now editing for $3 an hour over in Indonesia taking away market share from USA editors ? LOL!
Art, I was so curious that I called Single Care’s line. They get paid a royalty/ commission from Walgreens/ CVS..etc..(From Pharmacies) every time a customer buys drugs with their “free discount card”. The card seems to act as a coupon. It’s crazy the business models that are dreamed up these days. So If we go to CVS to buy a prescription and present our Single Care cards, CVS will charge 20% less, and also line Single Care’s pockets with a commission.
Why can’t we just walk into CVS and get a fair and reasonable price for the drug with no card at all?
Closing in on 9000 air dates. They sure have a lot of money to buy a lot of spots on TV advertising their discount card.
the contracts enable the situation and perhaps insulate the PROs and the libraries from any meaningful action.
Absolutely agree but should this fact silence us? Everyone in the business knows this is wrong and morally bankrupt. When Music Publishers/ Libraries peddle our music only for them to profit from deals they make, they are morally bankrupt individuals.
When PRO’s can hide behind vague language that says “our current standard practices” which seems to be paying performance royalties for TV spots that are tracked in Numerator’s database only, that too is a problem that should be protested or at least discussed. Change only occurs if you raise your voice and advocate for change and bring awareness to important issues. I am perplexed as to why Numerator would not track Pharma ads?
We need to advocate for I Spot TV being a source of valid air date information for PRO’s to consider too.
For the record, the way royalties were collected on Spots in the 90’s was by fedexing a video tape of the spot with a copy of the work for hie contract in the package and a letter explaining “I was hired to write original music for this commercial enclosed, I am attaching a copy of the music contract for your reference. As a member of your society, I am hoping to collect performance royalties for these public broadcasts on TV….etc…”
We’ve come a long way and Numerator is a good service for all, but if Numerator decides certain industries/ and advertisers will not be tracked (i.e Single Care) well that’s a problem and we need to bring awareness to this. I Spot TV sure is a great option for PRO’s to use. So we should advocate for either Competitrack/ Numerator or I Spot TV as acceptable data/ evidence/ proof of usage on air.
The federal judges I have come to know would be very slow to say a contractual scheme is OK that pays everyone except the creator of the product.
Dear Lord, I hope so! How about YOUTUBE’S $15 Billion in ad revenue (More ad revenue than VIACOM and Discovery). All those ads broadcast music yet I see on my statement statements
“YOUTUBE FREE” Total Royalty amount – $.03 Cents
“YOUTUBE Premium Total” $0.02 Cents
OH indeed….I’d say that these “Standard Practices” are really behind the times. There is way too much weighting put on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX while YOUTUBE / GOOGLE (Streaming in general) seems to be neglected by all PRO’s.
Last comment: Single care is not a Pharma company, but a prescription Savings Card. Their mission Statement
“We partner with pharmacies nationwide to get you affordable prices on your prescriptions.”
So I assume they have a royalty deal in place – If we were to walk into a Pharmacy and present the card, we will get a discount on the drugs we’re buying. They in turn ( I assume) get a royalty commission from Walgreens or CVS or the drug company? Strange business model….I wonder how they make money?
Art, Single Care may not be in Numerator’s database just yet, since it seems to be a new brand recently coming onto the market.
I think I agree with you Michael. Sole Proprietors take losses on their schedule C all the time as do S-Corporations, LLC’s. Just because you have a business or “side hustle” does not mean you can not show losses.
What if you earn 30K in royalties from music production work in a given year, but paid 40K to:
– rent a studio
-pay musicians fees to perform / sing on tracks
-Pay an accountant
-Pay for legal services
– Buy/ upgrade software and equipment to make the music
– Pay for airline tickets, ubers, taxis, and hotels to attend industry events ASCAP expo is coming up soon, PMA has a conference each year. MIDEM in France, NAB show in Vegas, NAMM Show just happened,….right?
– Pay internet, web design, web hosting fees
– Pay monthly Phone bills to run the business
-subscription fees to continue your education and knowledge of this business
etc.We do have lot’s of overhead in our business.
Can I remind everyone that Art is only in the very early phases with this claim? For starters, it’s only Feb 7 and Q1, 2020 TV performance royalties will not be due until September’s final distribution. If BMI said affirmatively “We are not paying you for the performances of that single care spot no matter what” then yes…that is a problem. I don’t think that is the case at this moment.
But Yes LA Writer…I do think we realistically only get paid for perhaps 50% of what actually broadcasts on TV worldwide…if that….
And Frankly, PRO’s just need to get way more aggressive collecting money from YOUTUBE/ Google, Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, etc….
These are all the companies with $1,000,000,000,000,000 or more in market capitalization (1 TRILLION)
These stocks are at all time highs and seemingly make new all time highs year after year.
We are getting paid .01 cents often on our statements for these so called “Streams” or “performances”…whatever you want to call them. I say to ASCAP, SESAC, BMI poach some staffers at these companies and pay them a big bonus to grab more performance royalty money from these companies.In Googles latest report they claimed…welll…read this (all you PRO board members and send some mafia over there) to collect some money for all of us.
https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-ad-revenue-15-billion-2019-google-breakout-2020-2
To put this number in context, the $15 billion total for ad revenue means YouTube is bigger than media conglomorate Viacom (last valued at $12 billion). It’s also more than 20% of the $70 billion that went into all of US TV ad spending in 2019.
Guess what? Viacom pays a hell of a lot more to us composers/ publishers in performance royalty income from their TV shows and ads they run on their networks. The PRO’s have their eyes off the ball and their heads up their A$$. YOUTUBE is making so much money they don’t know what to do with it.