176 thoughts on “Royalty Payments – Monitoring and Collection”

  1. Thanks people, great info about Sound Exchange. I’m registering to it too.
    I have another question.
    I’ve registered all of my tracks with BMI but I’ve uploaded only the titles, lengh and descriptions, no audio files. How does BMI finds my music if it even didn’t listen to it and has only titles ..? I guess there is enough music in the world with the same titles that I have.. so how BMI knows the music is mine?

  2. Makes sense. So as a composer when you’re music get’s licensed for anything used online/Satellite/cable SE collects for you automatically, but if you aren’t registered you don’t know that it is there. Is this correct?

  3. Online/satellite/cable services which use the blanket government license to play any track they want are required to report what they play to SoundExchange. if they’re not relying on the government license, then they have to have a direct license with the copyright holder (as if it was used in a tv show, or supplied for download). But most things that are radio-style, that is, not on-demand, are covered under the license that SoundExchange pays on. Congress set up the license, then told SoundExchange to take care of the details. That make sense?

    Nathan – SoundExchange pays artists and sound recording copyright owners – that is, the owner of the master recording (can be a label, or the artist, or a 3rd party). If you’re solely a songwriter but don’t perform your own work, you’re fully covered by ASCAP/BMI/SESAC.

  4. It’s absolutely worth it to register with SoundExchange. it’s only a couple of forms, and there’s never any fee. You don’t have to register your repertoire with SoundExchange OR with the copyright office to be eligible to receive royalties. It helps, but when webcasters report your name as the artist, you accrue royalties thru SoundExchange whether you’ve registered your repertoire or not. They collect royalties for you from anybody using the blanket government license for streaming sound recordings – including satellite radio, internet radio, broadcasters that simulcast on the web, and the high-numbered cable channels that stream music without video. There is NO downside. Even if it’s only $50 a year, you only have to fill out the forms once, there’s no repertoire registry, and you get paid whenever they collect for you. You’ve gotta do it.

    • Thanks for the response Jenny. The part that I still don’t understand is who reports to soundexchange? So if my music is in an ad on say…cbs.com or a show on HULU better yet, is it the websites responsibilty to report the music usages to SE? If it is a show on HULU how are they going to track the original cue sheets from the shows? Either way I’m definitely going to register now, I just had some concerne b/c they mention the U.S copyright office multiple times on the faq’s and I don’t register catalogues through them very often (until I have a lot of works) b/c of the time it takes and the $35 fee. Thanks again!

  5. Was just on the soundexchange site’s faq’s and a lot is still unclear to me. Actually, is there anyone who can give a simple breakdown on how soundexchange works and if it is a necessity or worth the while?

    Does everything have to be registered with the U.S. Copyright office to collect? If so it may not be worth it as it cost’s $35 to register a new catalogue. If you register 1 catalogue a year and it only earns you say $12 from SE it’s not quite worth the money or time spent registering on that horrible gov site. In all honesty it seems like a lot of extra administative work to collect pennies in the end (That’s assuming you have to register every piece of work with them and the U.S. Copyright office) Hopefully someone proves my theory wrong as it would be a bonus to find another form of income.

    Also, Is it the same process as registering your works with a PRO like BMI? In the event that the Music Library you are working for registers your works do they cover this as well?

    Lastly, I Pulled the following from the FAQ’s on their site, they mention collecting you revenue for the SRC but do not explain anything on satellite broacasts or internet.

    ASCAP, BMI and SESAC represent a different copyright than SoundExchange. ASCAP, BMI and SESAC collect performance revenue for the owners of the copyrighted musical work (the song), i.e. music publishers, songwriters and composers. SoundExchange collects performance revenue for owners of the sound recording copyright (the recording) and for featured and nonfeatured artists. SoundExchange, therefore, performs a different function and does not compete with ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. In fact, a company with both publishing (“song”) copyrights and recording copyrights should join collecting societies administering both types of rights: one for the song and another for the sound recording copyright.

    Sorry if I’ve overdone it with this post. Just trying to see if it’s worth it.

  6. Are you familiar with “SoundExchange”? As I understood, they are gathering for you royalties from media (internet) and such. Someone registered to this one ? If you sell your music on Free Royalties Libraries, you don’t deserve those payments, cause your music is free of such royalties, correct ? So who needs SoundExchange ? Only those bands who have music but don’t sell it on Free Royalties Libraries?

    • No that is incorrect about the term “Royalty Free”. It means that the consumer does not have to pay any royalties. However it is standard procedure for them to fill out a cue sheet for any music used in a production that is broadcasted. Once these are filed properly it is the networks responsibilty to pay the PRO’s who then pay the writer’s share “performance royalties”.

      • Tom,

        Are those broadcasts include internet broadcasts like internet radio, for example?
        Cause “SoundExchange” are not regular PRO (like BMI/ASCAP) – they gather royalties from internet broadcasts and not TV/Film.

    • Tom is correct.

      And Sergei, you need Soundexchange if your music is played in the media that Soundexchange covers.

      I belong to ASCAP (but would like to switch) and Soundexchange.

  7. Can you be a member of 2 PRO? One as a solo artist and another in a band?

    example: join ASCAP as Jon Doe

    join BMI as The Jon Doe Band (with yourself and another person)

    Thanks

    • No, you can only be under one PRO. Each band member will have to register themself. You give them every bit of info including SSN so there’s no way of John Doeing your way through it. When you register your works is when you have the choice to register as a solo artist or however you want it split amongst the group. I’d go with BMI as I’ve heard a lot of bad things about ASCAP on here and other places, but choose as you will.

  8. Hi!
    I’ve joined BMI recently and I have a question, haven’t got the answer from BMI support yet.
    While registering a track, there is an optional field saying:
    “Was the work created for an Audio-Visual Production or Music Library?”
    I’m selling my tracks on different royaltee free libraries and placement libraries. Should I fill in this field ? If so, what should I write in “Production Title” ? The name of the track or all the names of all the libraries my tracks is selling on?
    And what should be in the “CD Identifier” and “Cut Number”? I don’t understand what those last two actually mean..

    Thanks!

    • If you’ve emailed BMI, they have consistently taken about 5 months to respond to my emails. When you call them, they say they’ll call back, but don’t! I don’t check those boxes for Audio-Visual Production or Music Library, because the music wasn’t specifically created for those libraries. Who knows, I could be wrong!

  9. I have music with a couple libraries, and am currently unsigned with a P.R.O., but want to before long, both as a composer/songwriter and my own publishing. I’m wondering, if libraries take the publishing share, then how does that end up in their hands if I was listed as a publisher with BMI?

    I saw above where someone said that a composer keeps his publishing with the PRO, but how does the sub publishing agreement go? Also, with the same works being in the hands of several different libraries, is it possible to get multiple sub publishers for each work???

    It seems confusing.

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