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CID is here to stay and every serious, professional video maker/ youtuber / advertiser knows how to deal with clearing claims and so does ADREV and Identifyy. Basically the way forweard is every music producer should always FIRST release their production albums to DSPS (SPOTFY, APPLE, YOUTUBE), register the titles and ISRC codes at their PRO’s. Then upload that album to Identiffy, Soundmouse, TUNESAT, THEN, lastly shop the album with a publisher to represent your music to TV shows, films, marketing agencies, etc.
By operating this way you are claiming full ownership of the content first, as you should. Technology has come a long way to fully empower the original creator and limit middle men involvement. Take advantage of what empowers you and keeps you in total control of your intellectual property.
“Artlist still markets itself with ads featuring content creators who look like a deer in the headlights, terrified of getting a copyright notice.”
LOL! They deserve a medal of honor for manipulating music creators into the least fair and least favorable business model ever invented!
Maybe these new IT investments they want to make will serve affilates after all. After reading these articles and listening to the CEO comments, I will keep an open mind. The good news is that they continue to bring in record amounts of revenues. There seems to be a desire to invest in IT, which I assume would be more transparent broadcast tracking of music used on TV and streaming. Perhaps we will all get better data on how our music is streamed, broadcast, etc. I am very impressed by what Identifyy has done with their Content ID Tracking technology. They essentially have achieved 100% transparency for how our music is used on YOUTUBE. We can now literally watch and hear every video on YOUTUBE that is monatizing/ claimed back to us. This kind of detection service is what we all want and need. And not just for TV broadcast, but for Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, etc. We now see usage data via our statements, but do we really feel confident in the accuracy of the data we get? Perhaps these new investments will lead to improved, more accurate, transparent data for all music creators. The CEO refered to “the old model” many times in his comments. Maybe that means humans entering track titles on cue sheets will go away and be automated by IT, fingerprinting sound recordings, etc…..
I also found it fascinating how the company was for sale
“Citing sources, Bloomberg reported at the time that the music rights collection firm set a price tag of up to $2 billion or $3 billion for certain potential buyers and that BMI executives had hoped to sell for at least $1.5 billion. BMI enlisted Goldman Sachs as an advisor in March to help review strategic opportunities.”
He added: “The one thing we continually heard throughout that process reinforced what we have been thinking for some time: the need for us to invest in BMI and operate in a more commercial and forward-thinking way. Growth requires investment.“And in this new model, we can now structure, fund and operate new strategic opportunities, adopt new technologies and enhance and expand our services and products in a way that under our old model would have come at the expense of distributions.”
Elsewhere in the note to BMI affiliates, O’Neil argues that while the business model shift “is a big change”, the former model “held [BMI] back and limited [its] ability to invest in the future in a meaningful way”.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bmi-changing-profit-business-model-150918527.html
After scrapping sale plans, BMI transitions to a for-profit business model
Just received a newsletter that BMI is now shifting to “for profit”. The reality of that change is much bigger than we all may realize. They are now in the business of paying out as little as possible to publishers and writers so they (BMI) can be more profitable. I mean, is this not logical? What is their biggest barrier to earning profits? I’d have to say that it is royalty payments to writers and publishers. Seems to me that wall street greedy folks have been keenly watching the slush fund and have been whispering ideas to the powers that run BMI to eliminate “Not for Profit”.
I tend to think Not For Profit is a better model for writers and publishers because the very idea of not for profit is to maximize distribution of royalties to their members and preserve as little as possible to admin staff, the board of directors, VP’s, CEO’s etc. For Profit is a game changer for BMI. If they are going to “For Profit” then they should attempt to issue shares of stock that all members can buy so everyone can enjoy the profits together.
Also, Vlad, if your foreign ASCAP statements are stronger than your domestic statements, you may want to stay put at ASCAP. BMI does seem to pay better for domestic network and cable shows, but ASCAP seems to pay better with foreign collections. ASCAP also issues 8 payouts a year, and if you have an ASCAP pub entity you are getting 16 payouts a year. BMI would only be 4 distributions or 8 (if you have a BMI publishing entity set up). It is a tough decision.
If you have something really, really good to send their way you absolutely should only give them one to two weeks to make a decision. This business is a two way street. Publishers who think they can take their sweet time evaluating works have every right to do so, but their risk is the clock running out on potentialy a very good body of work that Media producers would appreciate.
Think about real estate offers. If I am making an offer to buy your house, I will make that offer and state “this offer is good for 24 hours”. In other words “decide now, because I have many other houses I can buy”.
Same is true with music publishers. “Do you want the privilege of representing my music? Yes or no, because guess what…I have a line of folks waiting to publish my music.”
Sounds a bit arrogant? Perhaps, but I don’t care, that’s where I am at in my career. Our music is not making money while being held in a waiting cue. Writers should not be in the business of waiting to get their product on the market.
In the end, there is no strategy, only you know how good and valuable your music is for a music publisher, or direct licensing stock site. Waiting is not a strategy because waiting does not produce revenue.
Justin,
Did you read your contract 5 times with the PRS/ UK Publisher and do you understand EVERYTHING that you are agreeing to in terms of the rights you are transferring over to them?
Did you see an area of the contract that explains exactly who will register the titles at your PRO which is ASCAP? and what about registration at every PRO around the world?
The PRS is the only major PRO that does not allow non members access to their database of registered works and that is to this day astonishing.
If they are EXCLUSIVE publisher and you gave them control of the copyrights, then they should have registered these titles with you credited as WRITER, at ASCAP, the PRS, and frankly every PRO in the world on your behalf.
There are too many missing details before anyone can speak to you with constructive advice. We need to know what their obligations are to you and the co writer? Is your deal exclusive, forever? Did you sign over the copyrights to them? Did you get an advance fee for your work? and so on.
The ethical approach is to offer the Moroccan writers of the music their 100% share as Writer and you keep 100% of the publishing if you finance the recording studio costs. (Meaning you pay to book the studio and you pay recording engineers to capture the music as a professional sound recording that can get published on a global scale)
As publisher of the music and albums, you should take responsibility for registering the song titles at the PRS and ASCAP. but you first have to get the Moroccan writers to affiliate with a PRO and link a bank account, e mail address, home address, phone number. Writers have to affiliate with PRO’s by way of an application process. They may not get accepted as Morrocco can be a challenging country and banking system to work with. All you can do is ask the writers to apply to become a writer member of ASCAP or PRS.
You said…
“I tried to hook them up with PROs but they are not willing to do it yet as there is nothing to gain atm – but I make a document ready for every artist with every step they have to take to become part of the team and I make it a requirement to work together.”
There is a lot to gain and nothing to lose by affiliating with a PRO. THe bank account link is the key variable.
I know Moroccan people and their culture very, very well. Returning in December in fact, once again. I married a woman from there! I was married in that country and have witnessed the drummers, violinists, singers, etc….play hundreds of times…They all performed at my wedding and countless other parties I attended. LOL! I may move there one day!
Listen, you get these musicians affiliated with ASCAP or PRS as writers right away. Seems like you are the publisher?
YOU,as publisher and master owner of the sound recordinngs register these song titles now, today, yesterday, immediately at ASCAP then you start shopping the catalog for sub publishing / admin publishing services with BMG or Warner. Obtain ISRC Codes, then REGISTER all titles FIRST at the PRO of your choice, I’d recommend ASCAP for this scenario, as “original publisher”, then shop the albums with the big publishers who will distribute the music all over the world for Film and TV production companies to tap into.
“My goal is to make fair shares 1/3 for the Artists”
“I worked 5 years to build a real connection and trust with the artists (living in the desert, spending years in their country, learning language and music etc.)”
Ady_HTRM, There are many subjective variables with your business plan:
You most likely have a product that is highly unique, authentic, hard to get (spent years in the desert)
I assume you were possibly in Africa? perhaps Morrocco hanging out with musicians who have perfected their instruments, but do not have a clue as to how to exploit their recorded works on global scale?So if this is the case, you have a rare product. Why would you even start to bid against yourself by suggesting 50/50? You need to be a shark. You need to play “hard to get”. You need to have confidence that you know you have something that they want, but can not just snap a finger and get it for that easy 50/50 deal.
Is BMG giving you a recording budget to fly there and book a recording studio? If Yes, well that is a different kind of deal….
Did you already finance the recordings of this folk music? Do you own these master sound recordings?
Do not buy into BMG’s nor Warners “well here is our STANDARD publishing agreement to exploit your works.”
For the moment, YOU are the publisher and you seemingly need sub publishing services to get the works exploited on a world wide scale. If you have something special and Warner and BMG are showing enthusiastic interest, do NOT make offers of 50/50. Shoot for more of the publishing share.
Additionally, I am quite familiar with the concept of poor, uneducated musicians living in the mountains and desert of Morrocco as I have visited the countryabout 50 times and have in laws there, etc. Just curioius, did you get these musicians affiliated with PRO’s? do they even understand what that is? Do they even have bank accounts? Do they even have postal addresses? Would you pay them by delivering cash to their villages?
Sorry about all the questions, but you have a lot to unpack before we can give you answers. 33%, as Mark stated, is NOT a good deal. If you have already financed the recording production, You want to retain 100% of the writers share, and then at least 50% of the publishing share which would equal 75% control for “your team” (You, your partner, and the artists creating and performing the music).
BMG, and Warner should just keep (at most) 25% as they are acting as sub publisher agents that distribute these albums to the production music world on a global scale through digital distribution.
You should should be “original publisher” and would be foolish to give that up. If, however, you get a nice advance offer, maybe you’d consider selling the publishing to them. This deal is not exactly an easy deal to unpack. If I am flying to Morocco to organize a group of berber musicians to set up in a studio to record, that is a massive effort on my part worth a lot of $$$$$.
my 2 cents on the matter….
Some of the nice surprises that stood out for me were “FACEBOOK 2H” $708 in streaming royalties for tracks used in ads. These same tracks also aired on broadcast TV. ads. It’s nice that regular commercials streaming on facebook are getting paid. As a whole, “Internet audio” (FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE) are now paying something. I earned $880 in total for my “internet audio” whereas it used to just be a few pennies it seemed.
HGTV Paid some royalties.
Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV, Disney Plus, HULU, TUBI, PEACOCK aka “Internet audio visual” Still pay very little. These are the same shows that run on cable and broadcast TV but can be watched as “streaming on Demeand”
The CW WPIX is a big disappointment. I personally have my music getting used as opening news themes, bumpers in and out of commercials during the morning, noon, and evening newscasts for New York City, The United States largest market with the largest viewing audience and those plays pay $0 I assume in a gratis deal. These tracks literally are detected on TUNESAT often 10 times per day yet they do not pay a performance royalty.
BMI international royalties do not seem to pay out as well as ASCAP (int’l) does so that’s still a head scratcher for me.
Seems like we are making positive progress as media evolves into multiple broadcast and streaming platforms. FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE,
Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV, Disney Plus, HULU, TUBI, PEACOCK clearly are new and evolving revenue streams for the PRO’s, still slow to catch up with broadcast TV.Request one from support.
Identifyy supplies a “release key” to all music producers who may get complaints from customers. That release key can also be given to your exclusive music publisher/ library.
In regards to Content ID, My philosophy was and still is this: Upload your music into the system as you are original creator. We as original creators are entitled to see and hear how our music is getting used on youtube, instagram, and now meta platforms/ facebook and hopefully soon tik tok. WE are entitled to those royalties before anyone else. I just upload and collect the payments as they come in. I have no regrets and will not ever “deregister” my tracks to satisfy any stock music site nor music publisher. My works, will be controlled by me period, and I am entitled to those CID royalties, and I am entitled to collect them first. I do not pay attention to stream counts and do not care about how much we get paid. I get paid, I have no regrets, and that is all that matters to me. CID is not transparent. Google/ Alphabet? YOUTUBE/ FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TIK TOK, etc…are not transparent with their royalty system. It is what it is so just sign up and upload, then answer questions later.
Hello Chris,
Why do you think composers have to tap into NR collection services to get these royalties? I find it to be frustrating that I actually have to sacrifice 20% of what is mine by using a service. PRO’s exist for composers, songwriters, and publishers to collect performance royalties on our behalf, then they pay us direct deposit 100% of what is ours.
What bothers me about NR royalties is that I am using a collection “middle man” service to collect these royalties on my behalf, they pocket 20% of what they receive first in my name. The flow of the money is from NR org in Brazil, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, etc…to the middle man’s bank account. They skim their cut (This kind of annoys me) then they send me my cut. I really do not know how much, nor how often the middle man collects from these countries in all honesty.
So when do you think NR will develop a more transparent system so that writers and composers and publishers can just collect this revenue stream without “middle man expertise”?
Are you willing to list all NR orgs we’d have to set up accounts with (or affiliate with) to bypass the middleman expert? It’s astonishing that the middle men can present contracts that state “I can collect this pubisher/ writer/ composer’s royalties first, on their behalf, then pay them after the money comes to me first.”
This is not exactly “artist friendly” because we have no choice but to lose 20% of the pie.. I look forward to your response.
I long for the day when middle men are out of the picture.
If you have:
1. a lot of Talent
2. are alligned with the right music libraries that really get your music on air
3. know how to create multiple revenue streams with your music catalog
4. produce 50 to 100 very useful tracks a year for about 7 years straight
5. Stumble upon lucky career breaks, where you land a few placements that really produce high royalty payouts….I think you may be able evolve into a full time music producer after probably 7 years.
I do not think you can pull it off if you just write cues for exclusive music libraries and then give them total control of the intellectual property in perpetuity, allow them to collect Content ID, and disallow yourself from selling on direct licensing markets.Multiple revenue streams has been the key for me. Had I just sent cues only to my best performing publisher/library, my music composition income would probably be only 25% of what it is today.
Also annual salary needs vary greatly from person to person. I have two tuitions to pay next year so my royalties are going into my bank account and the directly to university bank accounts. Love it! LOL!
A single person in their early 30’s may be fine with $50,000 in music royalties.
My advice: don’t ever quit your day job. I still seek revenue and income from other non music related activities.
Just curious, what genre did you produce for these shows?