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@MaxPower – Hi Max. I had some problems getting US royalties through the PRS a few years ago and they weren’t very helpful or interested. I called up the BMI London branch and they were really helpful in getting everything sorted. I do have US ITIN number from several years ago but I don’t think it was that important in signing up with BMI. I would suggest phoning BMI’s London office and asking them about it. https://www.bmi.com/about
@JoshM – You’re welcome. I have signed up to soundmouse and have uploaded some of my songs but need to update it. I don’t know how useful it is yet though.
@Art – Hi Art, I haven’t said this before but this is a great website and has been an invaluable source of information and resources for me while trying to get my head around how library music works! Thanks for all your hard work !!
Hi Josh, I’m no expect on this but I’m a UK composer and PRS member. I’ve had plenty of placements on TV shows in the US and did receive most of the royalties via the PRS eventually. So I would think that as long as your friend’s PRS details are on the cue sheet correctly he should get paid after sometime.
However, I realized that I wasn’t always getting the correct amount of royalties via the PRS so I am now a BMI member for the USA and Canada but with the PRS for the rest of the world. Now I get my US royalties directly from BMI and it works much better for me
Hi Tbone,
That sounds promising with SESAC, I hope that you can get it worked out with them.
I had a quick check of my PRS and BMI catalogues and it seems that if a new song is registered with the PRS it automatically later appears in my BMI catalogue. I think that might be something that BMI London set up but I’m not exactly sure.
I’m not sure if it works like that both ways but if I find that a new song that has been registered with BMI I will probably also register it in my PRS catalogue just in case.
I think that around 95% of my back end royalties come from US placements so that’s been my main concern recently.
With the US based libraries I give them my BMI CAE/IPI information, with the European ones I give them my PRS details. I haven’t noticed any issues with it yet but will try to deal with that if it comes up.
Thanks, Orca
I think that a lot of UK based library musicians must have experienced this problem.
What happened for me was that I was trying to track down some missing US TV placement royalties based on information from my tunesat account. I couldn’t get anywhere with the PRS support system so I contacted BMI in London (https://www.bmi.com/about/entry/contact_us) to see if they could help, as the library and publisher in the US that I was using were signed to BMI.
BMI London were very helpful. I discussed with them whether I could join BMI as publisher in order to get my share of royalties directly from the US and they told me the easiest way would be for me to join them for USA and Canada as a writer while remaining with the PRS for the rest of the world.
I had to write and post a letter to the PRS requesting that they release me for the USA and Canada which they agreed to do.
Once I had signed all the BMI paperwork, contract, W8BEN tax forms etc BMI took care of re-registering all my relevant PRS catalogue to my new BMI catalogue. The music libraries didn’t need to get involved or be notified with my back catalogue but I did let them know for all new recordings once I had joined BMI.
When BMI receive any royalties for me now they send it directly to me in the normal way with quarterly statements that have much more information than I was able to get from the PRS. I have a standard UK personal bank account and the payment is converted from USD to GBP by the UK bank at their normal conversion rate and transferred directly into my bank account from BMI.
I still get quarterly statements and payments from PRS for my other works outside the USA and Canada as usual.
@ PAMMusic I have the same CAE/IPI number for the PRS but have another CAE/IPI with BMI. Most of my BMI catalogue listings on their portal use my original PRS CAE/IPI though.
It might sound quite complicated but BMI did all the work for me and my payments from them have mostly been much better than I expected.
@Tbone – It’s worked well for me so far and was easy enough to set up with the BMI London branch who have been very helpful. If you need any more information let me know.
@ Ell – I guess you could join different societies with in Europe but I would think that could become quiet complicated. Have you tried notifying the PRS writer queries about the usages – writerquery@prsformusic.com? Do you know which library the tracks where bought from? I had a track used for an Ad from a sale on a well known non-exclusive library and decided to sign up to their new publishing deal. They did a good job getting me the back end TV royalties which I wouldn’t have got any other way I think.
Hi Ell,
I’m a UK composer based in Devon and have been making library music for about 6 years.
I am a PRS member and have had no end of problems getting TV royalty payments from the PRS. I’ve found many of my tracks on tunesat used on TV programs, mostly in the US and chased the PRS but they have been uninterested and it’s been hard to get the back end payments through them.
In the end I decided to join BMI for the USA and Canada while remaining with the PRS for the rest of the world which they will allow if you write to them. It’s worked pretty well so far and I’m glad I made the switch. What sort placements are you finding and in which countries?
Thanks
Orca
Mine was much better than my last quarter which will help keep things going 🙂
Mine was down by about 80%, lowest I’ve had in about 5 years. Hopefully the next will be better
Hi Guys,
I’ve also recently found out that an old track of mine has been bought, probably through a popular RF website and is currently being used for an advert on youtube and multiple TV stations in the US.
I’m in the UK so have contacted the PRS and with all the details that I have and am waiting to see how they respond.
I contacted Numerator through their website thttps://www.numerator.com/contact-us (thanks for the info and the link Art!) but haven’t heard back from them yet. I’ll post an update on here if/when I do.
Fingers crossed!!
Orca
Hi Composer of Notes,
I still use Protools 10 on Windows 7. I’m using a Digidesign Control 24 desk which isn’t yet supported by higher versions of PT. So I’m hanging in for as long as I can before considering any upgrades. Besides, it all works really well and sounds fine to my aging ears. Also I hate the idea of paying monthly for software and never actually owning it but that’s the way it all seems to be going.
Hi All,
I’m in South Devon by the sea. I’ve had no luck with UK library music companies. My best placements so far have come through companies in the US and Europe. Not making a living at it yet but it’s getting better every year, so hopefully it will continue to grow.
Hi Max, I’m Orca and I live in the UK. I’m working on my studio tan today 🙂
Hi Daniel,
No luck as yet. I called the PRS in the UK to ask for their assistance and advice. They told me that they won’t do anything without a cue sheet.
I then contacted the non-exclusive site that sold my track to NBC and they got back to me eventually saying that while the purchasers of the track had a legal obligation to supply them with a cue sheet, they hadn’t received one and weren’t able to pass on any contact information to me.
So I’ve just emailed NBC support to ask for help tracking down whoever might deal with cue sheets for this kind of broadcast and will wait to hear. I’m quite new to this and don’t really know if this is going anywhere but it’s got to be worth a try.
I’ll let you know if I hear anything.