1,729 thoughts on “General Questions”

  1. Anybody also use Soundclick to try and license songs that are at other libraries?
    In have a Soundclick account but just use it to send audition links to my music but you can designate prices (I think) for anybody wanting to license your music. Just never really thought about it.

    • I’ve had Soundclick for several years. Basically use it as my main site to host my music I have set my price on it but I haven’t had any direct licensing request through the site.

  2. Do I have to register my songs with ASCAP(my PRO) before they get licensed/placed?

    I’m confused why I have to register when ASCAP doesn’t even have a place where I can upload my track. I’m essentially just registering a name, not a piece of music.

    Also what should I put under publisher when registering these “names” when the material is non-exclusive?

      • Royalty-free as in “no PRO royalties” Slideboardouts, or royalty-free as in a one time licensing fee? Just curious…

        • royalty free as in “a one time license fee.” I don’t do any business with companies who want me to give up my PRO membership and royalties since my PRO royalties dwarf what I make in “royalty free” sales.

          • jingle punks and audiosparx…are they royalty free? I thought they weren’t but someone on here said they were…

                • Yes, very true. In fact, I sold an 8 second rock bumper on a “royalty free” site that has been placed in the World Series of Poker on NBC, men and women’s triathlon collegiate nationals on CBS, and multiple sporting events on Versus and Fuel. I’ve received PRO payments from some of these placements on my last statement and should see more on my next statement or two.

            • Audiosparx is, Jingle Punks is not. Although these days it seems that most libraries are operating like a “royalty free” library in a way because they just do a blanket license or gratis license instead of needle drop. The main difference anymore seems to be that a royalty free site is mostly focused on the non-broadcast market whereas a library like Jingle Punks mostly focuses on the broadcast market.

              • Well then why is there a place to put your CAE # on each song? Audiosparx has Royalty free radio, maybe that is what is royalty free.

                • @J3h43f4, you are getting confused by the term”royalty free.” Royalty Free does not mean that you DO NOT get backend PRO money.

                  There are three ways writers of library music get paid 1) upfront money to write tracks, 2) sync fees, and 3) backend money (royalties from your PRO).

                  Generally speaking, the term “royalty free” is a misnomer. Libraries use the term to mean that the buyer only pays a one time SYNC FEE to use your music as many times as they want. It has no affect whatsoever on backend money, which is paid by the network that broadcasts the program, NOT the producer.

                  Royalty Free libraries do this for the most part because many of their customers do not produce broadcast programming. They produce things like corporate videos, documentaries, wedding videos, etc. The PROs do not collect money for these types of productions. These producers are simply looking for a buyout. It makes the customer feel better, even though it is totally irrelevant, with respect to PRO money.

                  That said, some “royalty free” libraries, like AudioSparx do sell tracks to producers of broadcast material. In that instance, AudioSparx requires its customers to file cue sheets, so that you can get paid by your PRO. That is why they ask for the CAE#.

                  _Michael

                  • Thanks for explaining MichaelL, I figured royalty free was a misnomer. I find following the money to be complicated.

                    I’m taking a guess here, but does the music follow one of these 2 paths?

                    me -> publisher(such as audiosparx) -> producer
                    (producer pays)

                    or

                    me -> publisher(such as audiosparx) -> producer -> network
                    (producer and network pays)

                    Thanks for your patience.

                    • With respect to the RF model:

                      your music > goes to RF site (for free)> RF sells to non- broadcast customer (like corporate)

                      then RF > pays you a percentage of the “sale” (sync fee / license) > end of story.

                      OR

                      your music > goes to RF site (for free) > RF sells to broadcast customer (TV producer / film producer) > then RF pays you a percentage of the “sale” (sync fee /license) FROM HERE OUT IT”S DIFFERENT: then > TV show/film airs AND producer sends cue sheets > to your PRO, the NETWORK pays an annual blanket license to the PRO (based on a lot of things, including advertising revenue, size of audience etc.), > your PRO receives the cue sheets showing how much of your music was broadcast, what time of day, in what markets etc., AND then they (your PRO) take out their magic eight ball and secret decoder ring, enter the cue sheet data AND figure out what to pay > YOU.

                      This is one of the reasons why it’s good to have your own publishing company. In those rare occurrences where you get a broadcast placement from an RF site, if you do not have a publishing company the publishing money goes into what is known as the “black box.” So why not get the money that you’re entitled to? Of course, if you let the RF site act as your publisher then they get the publishing money. However, a word of caution: administering publishing can be a part-time job, so some writers would rather let the RF library handle the publishing and CHASE the cue sheets. But, thats’s another story and why Art uses tunesat.

                      NOTE: this IS NOT the same business model as other non-exclusive libraries, like Jingle Punks and Crucial.

                      Edit: quick response to Denis. With BMI, a writer can designate that they get the publisher’s share. Art confirm? I don’t know about ASCAP.

                    • “if you do not have a publishing company the publishing money goes into what is known as the “black box.” This what I find as totally unfair for US composers. If i dont a have publisher assigned to a track I get 100% of the income.

                      This is in Ireland and I am nearly sure the UK is the same.

  4. Question I should know the answer to but don’t – are the sync license fee amounts charged by music libraries in the UK set by PRS? In other words is a standard fee rate set by PRS that all must follow? Thanks.

  5. BMI International Distribution Summary?

    Just got my first royalty check from BMI 2011 first quarter. Decent placements, I was happy with it. The statement also came with a document “International Distribution Summary”. A spreadsheet with countries and dates and international PRO’s.

    Is this a statement of international placements of my music? BMI’s site says international cues usually pay 1 or 2 years after placement. Should I expect royalties from all of the dates listed on this spreadsheet? There’s a lot so hopefully so.

    I’d highly appreciate any veteran BMI affiliates who could chime in.

    Thanks

  6. Should I file with my City/State to start a business for my compositions? Is that how you get a tax ID #?

    If I start a business do I get some sort of tax benefits like rent, gas or production equipment right offs? I don’t even thoroughly understand what a right off is.

  7. When I register my songs with BMI there is an optional field, that I could fill out, which reads:

    “Was the work created for an Audio-Visual Production or Music Library? If the answer is yes, complete the following section.”

    Do you guys usually fill this out? Looks like its more for Libary CDs anyway… Thanks!

  8. What is the difference of a work registration as BG-Cues (like: ‘show title’-BG Cues) to a usual work registration with a library/publisher suffix?

  9. I’ve used FMN several times and landed with a nice library through them. My question however is, how do you know if the library/publisher you’re submitting to is not someone you are already working with?

    • I’ve signed many library deals thru FMN which resulted in placements at least as good as any others I’ve had– mostly BG on cable TV shows including MTV, TLC, etc.

      You really don’t know if the listing is from a library you are already working with. It’s one of those things. My take is FMN is so inexpensive, if I end up paying to submit to a library I’m already with, I don’t care. This happens sometimes with Taxi leads as well. BUT there are times whereby if it weren’t for the listing in FMN or Taxi, I wouldn’t know that library was suddenly looking for that specific type of track. So, to me… it’s all good.

      🙂

    • Hi Gary,

      I’ve used them for years and made a number of deals through them. That said, only one of those deals proved to be worth anything. But that one deal was well worth it and still paying. I continue to use FMN.

      • Art:
        Wow! Yes well worth it. I have been submitting tracks to them for the past few weeks or so, so we’ll see what happens. Can I ask what the placement was for you that ended up being so profitable?

        • My only beef with them is that two out of every three listings I submit to, never gets listened to. And I usually submit immediately after receiving the email. Don’t understand why a supervisor doesn’t listen, especially when it’s submitted within an hour of the email. Makes me wonder sometimes if some of these listings are already closed.

          • I feel the same way about not getting listened to, I asked Robyn about that one time. I politely pointed out that other “pay to submit” services guarantee you a listen for your money, and wondered why FMN didn’t. I don’t think FMN will mind if I post the answer here- it was “Our function is that of a delivery platform” and “listening to some or all the uploaded submissions is completely at the discretion of the job posting companies themselves”. Robyn added “We have a feature implemented within SubmitDIRECT that notifies the job posters twice a week via email, advising that there are submissions waiting to be reviewed. This has helped tremendously with increasing the numbers of submissions being listened to.”

            About your wondering if sometimes the listings are already closed, it does happen as I was also told “In some cases, a job poster for one reason or another will choose music before listening to all the submissions. This doesn’t happen frequently, but does happen sometimes.”

            Hope that helps.

            • Yeah, I understand there are no guarantees. But I’ve submitted sometimes as quickly as 5 minutes after the email and no listens. Unless 20-30 submissions are sent within the first five minutes, I don’t understand it. Unless… The poster doesn’t listen for a couple days and that quick 5 minute submit just becomes one in a large pile. I guess first come, first serve doesn’t work there. 😀

              Oh well, all part of the business.

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