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Art, my brief respone “poofed’ away some how…can you find it?
echoflex, anyone can present a contract, either buyer or seller of services. Typically a buyer asks for a quote. Be professional with your quote. Draft a the quote with your company logo, address, email, phone, define the scope of the work you are doing and the price you expect to be paid. Look at the quote as the beginning of the “work order”.
Once they accept the quote draft a Purchase order for them to sign that clearly defines the work you will be doing.Writing for a corporate video will most likely be a work for hire
scenario and you should structure the deal so you are licensing the music to them (even if you are scoring the video). This way you can still own this music and have it work for you in another way on future opportunities such as library music, background usage into shows, documentaries, etc.
In all honesty, I am surprised the video editor would not just use stock music to underscore a corporate video, but if there is money laying around in the production budget for you to score the video, good for you! Charge as much as you can. I do not see this resulting in any PRO performance royalties unless it gets on TV one day. So get all your money up front for this kind of job.
Echoflex everything is negotiable.
If an agency contacts you to license your song into an ad ask them to supply you with
1. Name of product or brand needing the music?
2. Where will it air? Nationally? Locally? Regionally? on TV? On radio? Social media only?
3. How long do they want to rent the song for their project?You need a lot more information before you can present a quote and definitely do not be shy about asking all these questions. The bigger the brand, the larger the fee you must charge.
Contract for original composition:
Same questions apply. Do not transfer ownership of the title unless they pay big money.
Commercials are not “one size fits all”. There is a Huge difference doing music for an ad for a company like Apple, ATT, PG as opposed to companies like Local furniture stores advertising next weeks 25% off sale on TV.
Apple, PG, ATT, T-Mobil, McDonald’s, State Farm Insurance,(S&P 500 companies) I would Charge $20,000 to $30,000 for an original composition going on TV nationally in the USA.
For what it’s worth I charged a small seed company 2K last year to write an original jingle for them so they can run radio ads in only rural farm land parts of the USA to sell seeds for crops.
NEVER under sell. Always quote a high fee because they will just counter offer.
There are no “standard” rules for negotiating contracts for music licenses. It’s the wild west. But I would say that typically ad agencies do present music producers with contracts that are almost always highly favorable to them. They often want a work for hire deal where they take ownership of the composition. That is OK, just make sure you are paid properly for that.
Here are some recent licenses I sold to advertisers:
ATT (To be shown “in store only” for one year term not for air) $1200
Pizza Hut – radio only for 6 month term :15 ad – $3000
I think reasonable price ranges are:
1. Social Media internet Ads only $1000 to $2000
2. Radio Spots $3000 to $5000 (From a perspective of a big brand)
3. Regional TV spots in Markets like NYC, LA, Chicago $5K to 10K
4. National Ad campaigns – well this where you just have to be savvy and never under sell yourselfAd agencies are also learning how they can exploit the stock sites for massive cost savings and I do not, unfortunately, see this problem going away any time soon because stock sites are clueless with how to handle these deals with care. Complete ignorance, being way too nice to those who have a lot more money, absolute stupidity and another problem that ruins our business. This is why performance royalties (As Art knows all to well with Single Care) are such an important part of our revenue stream.
Just don’t under sell yourself. If they contacted you that means the track is already on the spot and they want it! YOU have the upper hand. Don’t do anything stupid where you leave money on the table.
Sorry to sound harsh but this is the very reason why YOUR MUSIC ,YOUR FUTURE came into existence. There are so many young and new music producers who just don’t understand how to price their music.
Registering the track? Just register the title at your PRO as Writer and Publisher! Do it now. Immeditaely. Stop everything you are doing and register that title right now. What…are you going to be nice and offer them the publishing as a way of saying “thanks for the gig” ?
Art, I do think you will be paid if you keep the pressure on high. My goodness, the spot has aired 8500 times in just one month. That is a massive media buy, so far, and some big money is being spent promoting single care. This can be a spot that hit’s 15,000 air dates in Q1, 2020 alone.
Martin Sheen probably does not work on this unless he’s getting big bucks.
You’ll get paid. Just keep sending BMI the evidence you have. It may end up in Numerator’s database. Maybe bribe Numerator to get it in there? LOL!
I Spot and Numerator need to be perceived as equals. They offer very similar data.
Meanwhile ASCAP continues to email the hell out out of us to sign up and Pay for their ASCAP Expo in LA.
The PRO’s all clearly show a pattern of honoring data when it works for them and not honoring hard evidence/ data when it may mean they have to cut a big check. Isn’t it interesting that ASCAP uses SOUNDMOUSE for TV broadcast proof/ verification and composers do not even get a copy of the reports/ detections?Art this will help you learn which networks Numerator monitors:
https://www.ascap.com/~/media/files/pdf/help/payment-system/numerator_television_all_2018.pdfThis will be a good refresher for all:
https://www.ascap.com/help/royalties-and-payment/payment/musicinadvertisementsAnd indeed, absolutely, THE PMA, MLR Members, YOur Music Your Future members…we desperately need to unionize, and protect our future. After doing this dance for 20 years, I still do not see any improvements with transparency as it relates to PRO Payments. I mean, yesterday as I was flipping through cue sheets inside ascap, you have no idea how many broadcasts are in there that just NEVER PAY. The cue sheet is filed yet we still do not get paid. BTN, ESPN, Major League Baseball games, UFC Broadcasts…the list goes on ad on.
-The first policy change a legal team needs to “win” is making it illegal to direct license and broadcast on cable TV networks PRO Registered music. The PRO’s need to change that Policy asap.
-Secondly, the legal team needs to threaten TV show production companies that engage in extortion where they (The client) makes themselves “Publisher” through bullying libraries who should be getting full credit as publisher but instead are forced to retitle and re-register entire catalogs!
Or….
-Libraries need to stop “Bribing” TV show production companies with the publishing share drug they are offering to win the the contract as music supplier.-Libraries need to stop selling direct blanket licenses to various shows and networks letting them off the hook for Cue Sheets and performance royalties (ESPN, SCRIPPS)
I am not in on these meetings between Libraries and TV Show Producers, but my hunch is that it’s a combination of both bribery and extortion.
Please send in JD. I speak up, complain, and protest to people all the time including YMYF as well as PRO board members. No one seems to disagree with me. I’ve had an ASCAP board member say to me “I hear Ya man.” But I am sorry sympathy only goes so far…we need real legal action and policy changes to Protect our future earnings. We need to close these ridiculous loop holes and excuses such as “well we don’t quite monitor those stations” or “We don’t have Pharma spots in our database”. Or ” We don’t recognize I Spot TV or Tunesat data”/
Anyone living in LA? there is a discussion panel tomorrow at UCLA to discuss the negative impacts of direct licensing. Go there and make some noise.
The irony is that music contributors who fill up libraries shelves with music content, never agreed to be by-passed from this loop hole (selling direct licenses to SCRIPPS, BTN, ESPN, NETFLIX, etc) Every composer stocks the shelves of a library with the promise that we will be paid for on air network and cable TV performances.
So the discussion should evolve to “How do we end the loop hole of some TV show productions and entire networks not paying BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC, license fees to broadcast our PRO registered music?” and “Which music libraries can we expose and criticize for engaging in what amounts to overt theft, and generally seedy business practices where greedy music libraries secretly sell direct blanket licenses to ESPN, BTN, SCRIPPS, knowing that composers will NEVER be paid for the background cues?”
Does everyone fully understand what is happening? We. the music content creators stock the shelves of companies like SK, JP, M and many other PMA libraries essentially for no up front money at all, they then say “Thanks!” now we will go and sell direct blankets to ESPN, BTN, SCRIPPS, and NETFLIX with YOUR MUSIC, we will get paid. You will not get paid.”
Then the issue of extortion and bribery needs to be discussed, the practice of publishers being forced to sacrifice their publishing share by some TV shows, so the producers of the show get publishing credit. The “client” is suddenly morphing into the “publisher” so they can enjoy the back end royalties. PRO’s know this crap is going on yet they just look the other way?https://pmamusic.com/events/direct-licensing-and-the-value-of-music-whats-your-future-worth/
The good news is that time is on Art’s side. The TV spot basically just hit the airwaves and BMI will not pay Q1 2020 performances until 9/18/20. We need to raise our voices again and advocate that PRO’s honor data from both I-spot TV as well as Numerator. These two firms essentially perform the same services for major brands/ TV advertisers
1. Monitor what the competition is doing on TV
2. Measure the success, effectiveness of a TV ad campaign
3. Data analysis, data insights
4, These services also exist so that people can obtain information about credits – what agency produced the spot ? who the director was? The writer / art director/ creative director team? and gee…should I even mention those behind the scenes, mystery folks, who seem to always be tossed in the sewer…The Composer!So PMA Peeps, and Your Music Your Future folks, and Board members at the PRO’s – if you are listening and reading and I know some of you are, schedule some meetings and get this straightened out. We’re really sick and tired of these bogus excuses and our confidence in your approach of tracking music on air is eroding. We are not stupid and uninformed either.
News Flash: There is no such thing as a “small time” TV network. I am sorry but ESPN, BTN, SCRIPPS are companies making tons of money. ESPN is backed by Disney. People all over the world are watching this content every day at home in bars, in airports, in hotels…everywhere!
Collect the fees (from ALL TV networks making big profits from advertsing revenue) to broadcast our PRO Registered music and pay us the royalties we are do.
Art, keep in touch with me on this…..I will be hunting royalties down for a Car Shield spot also not found in Numerator but I can find it on I Spot
Art, I do think you will be paid on this, it just hit the air, and you are not really entitled to BMI royalties until September statement anyway. This is by no means a “small potatoes ad’ with the Sheen’s in the spot and also co-ops like CVS and Wal Mart. SESAC will accept TUNESAT data, but they do like to corroborate the tunesat detections with Numerator data. This is frustrating news, again. I am in a similar situation with Chris Berman as spokesperson on a Car Shield spot. Tunesat is detecting it every day, It is showing up in I Spot TV but not in numerator’s database. If the the pro’s can hind behind the excuse of “well it’s it not in Numerator” then we once again will get the short end of the stick. I’ve said this a thousand times, the Production Music Association has to put tons of pressure on PRO’s to come up with a solution for detecting music on spots. It is 2020. If services can scan youtube and obtain data on our music on youtube and pay us Content ID ad revenue, I am sure a detection service and policy can easily be put in place. The problem is that each PRO wants to use competing technologies. Soundmouse does not even send music producers reports of their findings, so that is 100% opaque, and clearly not that beneficial to us.
More importantly, we have to find a way to end this excuse of “we do not track those TV networks” or “we do not pay for broadcast performances on those networks”. We, collectively, have to work to eliminate these bogus excuses. I still scratch my head every day wondering how some shows pay performance royalties on certain networks, and others don’t. How is this possible in 2020? TV networks broadcast to the public. Performing rights organizations exist to collect royalties from TV networks (all TV networks we’d think). PRO’s have the responsibility to pay us when our music is airing on TV to the public. It makes me wonder, are we now in an era where PRO’s simply do not want to part ways with the money they collect?
In regards to SCRIPPS, I did some closer analysis of my last statements, I did get paid for a show called “Buyers Bootcamp” on the Do it Yourself Network aka DIY. So the story and mystery keeps evolving.
I simply would like to know how it is even legal Paul? Anyone from the PMA want to chime in? Anyone from any PRO reading this want to chime in?
How can a TV network that broadcasts PRO REGISTERED music to the American Public every day, all day not be obliged to pay the 3 performing rights organizations, who in turn pay us performance royalties?
Dear PMA people –
I am not sure panels and discussions and “cheerleading” or “educating” young composers about direct licensing is the way forward.https://pmamusic.com/events/direct-licensing-and-the-value-of-music-whats-your-future-worth/
I do think that re-writing the laws about licensing music property is a way forward. It’s simple, it should be mandated, required by law, that if a TV network (including SCRIPPS, and ESPN, BTN) and so on…is going to broadcast music to the public, they must pay ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC for the rights to do so. Cue sheets must be legally and accurately filed and vetted for accuracy, and writers and publishers should be compensated for these “performances” in the form of “performance royalties” paid by our PRO’s.
Discussion Panels, education, hope, cheer leading, praying is all a bunch of BS! If you want to end the direct license loophole that ESPN, SCRIPPS, NETFLIX, BTN, etc. engages in, Then get an army of lawyers on this and start educating Senators and Congress so that a BIll can be passed to get music licensing under control once and for all. If music is broadcast to the public on TV networks, performance royalties should be paid. It should be that simple, and no TV network should be granted a workaround or loophole to avoid this.
PMA Panelists: How are you going to convince every composer to not sign a contract to score a show under a direct license / NO Back end royalties deal? Then again, why is that even an option for some of these TV networks and streaming services?
Had a great quarter so can not complain. What’s confusing though (imagine the PRO’s not keeping us in an eternal state of confusion) is that “Do It Yourself” TV network a SCRIPPS owned brand did pay. Each royalty of course was under $1 but there was some payments there. Also HGTV payed a couple of placements. I constantly see tunesat detections from SCRIPPS so what is it? Are they paying performance royalties? or are they not? DO some SCRIPPS shows engage in “Direct Licensing”, while others do not? Any comments would be welcome…
Additionally, it is great to see all the cable sports packages such as NBATV, Fox Sports 1 and 2 paying decent royalties whereas ASCAP seems to deem these networks as “irrelevant” and subject to the survey bs.
Amazon Video on Demand – every royalty was.01 cents whereas ASCAP is paying fractions of cents 0.03297
Netflix, Hulu – seems like we’re getting a rasie! LOL! I am seeing some royalties hitting $5, $11, $8, but for the most part many are under a buck, but still larger than what seemed to be just .01 cents from prior statements in the last 12 qtrs.
Foreign Royalties are strong and nice to see.
Once again, seems like nothing happened with the Big Ten Network, UFC, ESPN. It’s criminal how music can be broadcast “Publically Performed” but not pay performance royalties. PRO’s were established to collect and pay for “public performances” but I guess some networks can get away with avoiding the PRO’s. Not sure why? ASCAP and BMI if you are reading my comments, is it not time to pressure some Senators and Congress to take a look at this bogus loophole and regulate cable TV networks under the same set of rules?
Bottom Line, Everything remains 100% opaque and I probably only get paid for 50% of the performances (air dates) that truly happen. ESPN, Big Ten, Major League Baseball broadcasts, UFC broadcasts continue to = free music for these folks, or I suppose our library partners sell those blanket licenses and profit from our works. It’s criminal but you library owners reading this and I know who you are….it’s your conscience. I know I certainly would never feel good about selling other folks music and earning a profit while they patiently wait for “back end” that….well….never comes. You folks amount to A-list con artists in my book.
This is where we are headed with subscription (If all composers give in)
0.00002
0.00002
0.3675
0.00012
0.00028
0.00029
…and so on (edited by moderator).Here are what my 10 subscription tracks earned last month and guess what? I have no idea how many times these were downloaded. Subscription amounts to 80% 90% price devaluation. It’s only a matter of time before we see all you can eat for $1.99 a month. There will always be some company that will step in and charge less.
3.16
1.46
2.65
1.92
…and so on (edited by moderator).
$32 of earnings, but I have to guess that the 10 songs were downloaded 4 to 25 times eachAnd here is what the one sync license at a time statement looked like:
$27
$27
$27
$22.50
$27
$13.50
…and so on (edited by moderator).It’s up to you, and only you to decide what your music is worth. One thing is for sure, subscription (if it truly becomes the new normal) will eventually dismantle production music as a viable career and way to earn a living and ultimately reduce our earnings by 80%. Composers and Music Producers are enabling this. They are 100% at fault.
Think about it, your music gets played, but somebody else other than you gets paid. How is that even fair?
Happens to me every day of my life on ESPN, BTN, HGTV, Food Network, GAC, Cooking Channel, TLC, Travel Channel and DIY Network.
JP, SK, MIBE (and many others) are all getting paid DIRECT BLANKET LICENSE FEES, none of it trickles back to writers. This is criminal. They are doing this with PRO registered music. In fact, they were the publishers who registered all the music. This transactional activity should not be legal. So Discovery now owns SCRIPPS. I suppose that is where they learned about the “avoid PRO’s” loophole. Read below:
https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-discovery-scripps-merger-20180306-story.html
Also, Lee…I just can not imagine that music usage in retail stores is profitable for individual writers. The effort may make sense for your company, but I can not imagine any writer being able to make a livable wage from radiosparx plays in retail stores.
I think we all need to advocate for modern music copyright laws being structured so that TV networks can not get away with eliminating cue sheet protocol while avoiding paying annual license fees to PRO’s. Those are the license fees that create a pool of money to pay writers and publishers on the “back end”. The libraries and publishers are just as corrupt and complicit in this “change” .
Composers Rally Against Discovery’s Reported Plan to Nix Music Royalty Payments
The societies in Europe continue to be the most confrontational in the world. They actively work to deprive composers and artists of the ability to directly control your commerce via direct licensing.
From the TV broadcast perspective Lee GEMA and BUMA/ STERMA pay very well for broadcast usages. I am starting to wonder if “Direct Licensing” is a friend or an enemy? Look at the Discovery and Scripps nightmare we are all dealing with. In these instances Blanket Direct Licensing is screwing writers over every day. Libraries are making money off these deals, but contributing writers are not. So as a Stock Music Site operator, what do you suggest be done to solve this problem? PRO’s exist to protect writers and publishers and see to it that we’re paid royalties for public performances. This includes retail shops, TV networks, radio stations, stadiums, bars, restaurants, streaming, airplanes, stadiums, theme parks, and so on. I’d say at this point it is in our interests that PRO’s, along with governments, morph into militant mafia to shake down and mandate that these places of business listed above all pay license fees to our PRO’s so writers and publishers can get paid for every air date and stream. Longer Story Shorter – if Direct Licensing becomes the flavor of the new decade and PRO’s can be easily bypassed, this will become a huge threat to writers’ ability to earn a livable wage.