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Beatslinger, have you used Tunesat reports / detections to get SESAC to pay out royalties or help you get paid?
Music123, how are you getting statements form all three PROs? As a publisher? Writer? Have you built catalogs with each PRO and then left for “greener pastures” while leaving the catalogs behind in the process?
Are you saying that in your experience, BMI, ASCAP and SESAC pay out the same in royalties for TV performances on cable, network and streaming (TV)? I’d love some clarification on this statement. I only have experience with ASCAP as a writer, but I know the ASCAP surveying system is screwing me out of TV performance royalties on both network and cable TV.
It is my understanding that SESAC does honor Tunesat reports / detections. Maybe somebody else who is SESAC can confirm that? I have only heard it second hand. I don’t know about BMI w/ regards to honoring Tunesat info. Anyone?
Beatslinger, please do keep us posted on the results of your big placements and the SESAC payouts. How long have you been with SESAC?
I gotta chime in here too: STAY AWAY FROM ASCAP!!! Let me repeat that in case I wasn’t clear. STAY AWAY FROM ASCAP!!!!! Matt, thanks for your post. It is a very relevant topic even if it is old news. I was unaware of the situation myself until recently. Other writers definitely need to be informed, especially if you are writing music for TV. By the way Matt, your link on the Facebook post is dead. If you have reposted it somewhere please let me know as I’d like to spread it around.
My experience in the last 6 months has been that my BMI co-writers have been paid thousands of dollars in performance royalties for placements on CBS Sports and BTN. ASCAP has paid me NOTHING! NADA. ZIP. ZILCH. ZERO. I called ASCAP Member Services about the issue and was instructed to submit a claim with the BMI royalty statements from my co-writers. After radio silence for 2 months, I got an email from ASCAP with the following response: “After researching your television performance claim we can tell you there were no sampled/surveyed performances of your works.”
So I started telling other writers about my situation and one of them had a friend that worked at ASCAP in the Nashville office. I got in touch and then was passed on to another person at ASCAP. Eventually, that person called me and told me the same thing, “no surveyed performances” and therefore NO MONEY!
The ASCAP surveying system is an antiquated practice from the 1920s. It is outragous for ASCAP to operate this way. Had I been educated about the issue I would have never joined ASCAP. I hope that by chiming in I can help spread the word. If you are doing anything else Matt to educate other writers please let me know. I want to help and plan to do a blog post on my website.
Also, to comment on what Mark is saying about if you get your music to show up in a survey then you get a bump. Sure, yeah, you might get paid more, perhaps significantly more, but its like trying to win the lottery. The odds are not in your favor. Most people NEVER win the lottery. So basically, ASCAP is NEVER going to pay you.