[Music1234]

But what about models where there is no “buyout” fee for the track? There are companies offering writers to opt into the service with no clearly defined method of accounting for downloads and usage.

The only way to get paid is on a license by license basis. One transaction at a time.

If we do not “unite” on this front, we will destroy our business once again. I do not want to sound like a pessimist, I am not. I have really enjoyed the growth of music licensing revenue for the last 10 years. I think it’s so cool that we can all trade globally.
Subscription based models will ruin our business. I just hope no one ever opts in.

[Music1234]

Indeed, initially you really do not know, but then after 7 to 10 years of information coming in (Statements, sync checks, PRO royalties, pay pal transfers) You do know. So I say give your music to those who give you money every month or every quarter. I do have tracks with companies that rarely produce income. I do not send them new music and sometimes ask them to eliminate my catalog from their web site. The “cut off” occurs with companies that do not produce meaningful revenue. I do not consider $250 to $500 a year to be meaningful.

[Music1234]

Chuck did they pay on time? or did you get the performance royalties in the last cycle? Octobers 2017 Domestic check or were you paid on time in 2016?

Sorry about continuing this discussion, I am holdiong onto an inkling of hope that ASCAP will pay, just late. The publisher seems to believe that eventually we’ll all be paid off the cue sheets and not surveys.

Either BTN is paying ASCAP a licensing fee or they are not. If they are, we should be getting paid. Mark, have you filed an inquiry with ASCAP? I do see your name on these cue sheets.

[Music1234]

So Chuck you were paid for BTN Live and Big Football and Beyond as an ASCAP writer? As you can see, I have 58 cue sheets for that show. I have not been paid. Were your royalties from 2015 or 2016?
ASCAP Series Code: 82575
B1G FOOTBALL & BEYOND
58

[Music1234]

Thank you all for the responses. I suppose I’ll remain patient and hope that these royalties cycle through. Many of the cues were on air in fall of 2016 for football games and Q1 of 2017 (Basketball). Nothing has paid on Domestic ASCAP statements yet. Hopefully, they will play catch up in January. Chuck, which show are you getting paid for? This list below, I have never seen a dime and all aired in Q3 and 4 of 2016 and Q1 and 2 of 2017.
B1G BASKETBALL & BEYOND
1
ASCAP Series Code: 81659
B1G BASKETBALL GAME BREAK
2
ASCAP Series Code: 82575
B1G FOOTBALL & BEYOND
58
ASCAP Series Code: 81661
B1G FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP POSTGAME
1
ASCAP Series Code: 82579
B1G FOOTBALL COACHES PRESS CONFERENCE
1
ASCAP Series Code: 87644
B1G FOOTBALL GAME BREAK
5
ASCAP Series Code: 82581
B1G FOOTBALL POSTGAME
5
ASCAP Series Code: 82583
B1G FOOTBALL PREGAME
1
ASCAP Series Code: 82584
B1G PRIMETIME KICKOFF SHOW
3
ASCAP Series Code: 82587
B1G SHOW
26
ASCAP Series Code: 88383
B1G SPRING FOOTBALL REPORT
1
ASCAP Series Code: 82588
B1G WOMEN S SPORTS REPORT
1
ASCAP Series Code: 88385
B1G WOMENS SPORTS REPORT
4
ASCAP Series Code: 90338

[Music1234]

Beatslinger, just keep your mouth quiet and don’t ever tell a library owner any information that is none of their business.

ownership=flexibility=no library owners business=successs=in control of your own destiny=happiness

[Music1234]

There you all go again calling it “royalty free”. It makes no sense. It’s a dated term that has no meaning. There is no such thing as “royalty free”.
There is such thing as PERFORMANCE royalty free, but not royalty free.

Every time someone licenses a track on a stock music marketplace the composer is paid a royalty. I just want to remind everyone of that.

It’s really time to refer to these markets as “Stock Music Licensing” markets. People buy music from me all the time on those markets and I earn royalties from those sales. My 1099’s say “Royalties Earned”. I sometimes go on and collect performance royalties from my PRO if the music is on an advertising campaign.

Stop using the term “royalty free”..It’s dated, false, misleading, incorrect, overtly stupid, and even confusing for buyers and sellers.

I do not have a problem with “Performance Royalty Free”.

[Music1234]

The best way is to click dashboard, then cue sheets, and simply study the name of every “series”. That count goes up over time. If you do that every week your memory may be able to detect what you’ve seen before and also detect names of new shows and you can easily detect an increase in shows (cue sheets) you have music on. It gets a lot harder to do as the cue sheets and show count grow over time. It would be nice to be able to sort by “year filed”.

At least ASCAP posts the information. Too bad BMI and SESAC do not.

[Music1234]

$2,274.79 showed up on 1 line on a foreign ASCAP statement in 2015
Category: General
Country “Netherlands”
PRO: BUMA
is all the information I see

To this day I have no idea how this happened or what it was used for. No need to ask too many questions though.

Euca: J= Jingle

[Music1234]

Congrats Art! Now imagine how disappointing it would have been if you sold the rights to a publisher for $500 and they sold a sync license for $2500 and did not have to share that with you because you sold the cue to them. And as you said, the same cue is marching on, remaining eternally “for rent” generating all kinds of income for you.

ownership = flexibility = surprise 4 figure sync fees = happiness = long term success

[Music1234]

@HaynesMusic – I am not a fan of any exclusive agreement ESPECIALLY if you are talking about music for a tutorial. Clearly that would be a music bed to support VO, not intrude on the message, and play a support role in a video. Why would you suddenly want to sign that to an exclusive publisher when you can simply retain ownership and eternally “rent” the track (License it) to any customer who may need it? And do so across several music licensing platforms?

Only the exclusive publisher could answer your question though. If you asked them “this was used in a tutorial on youtube already, do you want to take it in anyway?” They may take it. It really is not exclusive because it’s already out there being used. They would not be the first party to bring the track to market and make it available for licensing.

[Music1234]

I have to agree Michael. My statement was looking good today. People can beat themselves over the head for an eternity and want to switch PRO’s and so on, but the numbers don’t lie.

ASCAP did pay a piece of money to everyone in that “youtube settlement” whatever that was. Internet royalties, while still very tiny seems to pay more at ASCAP for Hulu and Netflix as compared to BMI. But then I’ll notice BMI paying better for reality TV cues on certain shows.

It seems kind of senseless to develop theories about which PRO pays more. I can not draw meaningful conclusions after seeing statements from all three PRO’s for 4 years. However, there is one that I will stand by: SESAC pays substantially more than ASCAP for TV commercials.

I like all of the PRO’s.

[Music1234]

@Dannyc, I’d think real hard about that. You must know by now that tracks can easily go on and earn several hundred to several thousand in the direct licensing stock music markets. (Over time, you have to think 2 to 5 years out) I would never sell a track for $500 because I actually think I’ll earn $500 back on every tune I release on:
1. Direct Licensing micro stock markets.
2. NE publisher that feeds TV background cue market (Performance royalties)
3. The occasional and random 4 figure license into a TV or radio spot or really, any media project where there simply is more money on the table for a track. People do have 1K to 4K sometimes just for an internet video project, radio spot, gaming track, film score, etc.

I actually would have a hard time giving someone my track for $1500 these days. It would be a tempting decision, but I still love the concept of music for rent eternally.I would never want to lose out on potential shared sync licensing revenue. Pay me a toll please each time you need my track. Pay me performance royalties each time it airs on tv. I will decide where the music is distributed. Not you. Only me.

ownership = flexibility= happiness= success

@Mc GTR – unfortunately middle men are needed. Your music needs to hang out where the buyers hang out. Music needs to “follow the crowd.”

[Music1234]

1. Can I use tracks on exclusive deals if the tracks have been used once on bespoke music jobs?

You mean demos for TV spots or TV shows that never were picked up? YES you can and should as smart people get paid eternally for their works. All of my unsold jingle demos have been in NE libraries and Direct Licensing stock music sites and those assetts earn away and I control the assetts 100%

2. Can I use tracks on exclusive deals if they’ve been released on iTunes/Spotify?

I certainly hope so! If you give your music to exclusive publishers for $0 in perpetuity you may as well go and find another business. That is NOT how you make money in this business. And yes, I now have all kinds of music streaming away on Spotify, I-tunes, etc (Personal end consumer listening market)…and I am am earning some meaningful royalties in that arena too.

[Music1234]

@pjbanker – I can not say the grass is greener on the BMI side. I really do not see much of a difference for TV show royalties. I am not sure where you feel as though you are getting screwed…is it themes? Background cues on shows? TV Spots?

Also, regarding 625,000 members in ASCAP. I’d be willing to bet that only 50,000 are truly active. Many musicians probably signed up when they made their first album then probably ignored their membership and went into other businesses. Some of these people may not even be alive anymore. I’d bet half do not even know what ASCAP does, yet they are members.

Finally, even though BTN is being piped into 60 million homes that certainly does not mean that 60 million folks are watching that network. How many people really are interested in College sports? Perhaps only 50,000 people nationwide watch that network each night. We really do not know.

Some interesting data here on most viewed shows and sports events:

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/tops-of-2016-tv.html

[Author]

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