Your Gateway to Success in the New Music Industry
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 42 Different Ways That Artists Can Earn MoneyBy Paul Resnikoff Songwriter & Composer Revenue
Performer & Recording Artist Revenue
Session Musician Revenue
Knowledge of Craft: Teaching & Producing
Brand-Related Revenue
Fan, Corporate, & Foundation Funding
Other Sources of Revenue
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I recently came across a new platform for artists to sell music directly to fans. The application is super simple and takes just minutes to begin selling direct to fans via facebook using a professional platform. Also one of the best parts is that the service is completely FREE and you retain 100% of your sales deposited directly to your PayPal account! I’d have to say this is one of the simplest self service distribution websites/apps available. Definitely worth checking out!
Check out the store I made for on of our artists iLLA in just a few minutes: http://vibedeck.com/illa
Also you can see how it makes a simple Facebook application on his page by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/iLLAfanpage?sk=app_164380056952184
Overall a very cool service and worth a quick signup!
Click below to sign up!
Welcome back ASCAP members and future ASCAP members. Now that we have Writing and publishing out of the way (See Guru Sessions #1 and #2) we can focus on what gets us money n the first place… The MUSIC!
TITLE REGISTRATION
Probably the #1 reason why music makers don’t make any ASCAP royalties even if they are getting substantial radio and TV play: You didn’t register any titles… It’s a sad world we live in sometimes… It’s like winning the lottery and you threw out the ticket.
“How do I register titles?”. Don’t laugh, you’d be surprised how many times I hear this daily… I shouldn’t get any more calls on this either… Link to Title Registration – for current members only: http://www.ascap.com/cwrreg/login.asp
YOU WILL NEED YOUR MEMBER ID (aka Member Code, Member Number, Card Number etc) to register titles. If you have never done this before click on Create Your Account
“But I’m a member already” – Yea no $h&%… create a password so you can get into title registration…
Once on that part of the site ad your password is set up, you will need to enter the following things:
Title of the song
Who are the writers
Who are the publishers
How much is everybody getting?
9 Title Registration Commandments
“Follow these rules you’ll have mad bread to break up” – that is if these songs are actually being played substantially. Don’t go calling ASCAP all angry because you didn’t get your royalties for your video that played for 5 seconds on public access.
This concludes the ASCAP knowledge for now…
Check the ASCAP Expo which is right around the corner, Quincy Jones, Just Blaze, Bill Withers, Dre and Vidal, plus 100s more will be in the building. Get to know your fellow ASCAP members!
ASCAP I Create Music Expo in LA April 22.-24 http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/events/expo/
Producers, you can also submit for the iStandard Producer Showcase at the ASCAP Expo http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/events/expo/2010/istandard.aspx
Can’t make it to LA? Submit beats to be in the iStandard Producer Showcase in NYC, PHI, CHI, LA, MIA, Boston or the city near you.
http://www.istandardproducers.com/index.php?t=show_submit
Hit me on twitter @RhythmJ for any ASCAP Guru questions you may have.
Rhythm J
What’s up to all the heavy grinders, hard working, and struggling artists, producers, musicians, managers, and DJs! Many of you may know me from my production, or my work with the iStandard Producer Showcase / istandardproducers.com; however, I still get a surprising reaction when mentioning my involvement with ASCAP. Once someone finds out I work there I get this:
“Oh woooooord?! You work for ASCAP?!? (long pause) oh…. That’s cool… (light bulb goes off) Oh ok…. So then how do I (insert question here)… “ And so it begins!
As I don’t mind helping anyone who approaches me in person about their ASCAP account or any other Performing Rights Organization they’re involved with (BMI or SESAC), it has come to my attention in the last couple of years that there is a glaring gap in the knowledge of many industry personnel that needs to be filled when it comes to this aspect of the industry. The most disturbing thing is that it seems people involved in the urban music genres are the ones that know the least about how to handle their PRO (Performing Rights Organization) business. I have helped managers, attorneys (as scary as that sounds), established artists, platinum producers, publishing company founders, and countless others.
Being that this is the first blog a lot of people want to know what ASCAP is… what does it do really? We can all sit here and say “I got my ASCAP set up I’m straight” but what does that really mean? I’ve had people spend the money on the account… and then call me and ask me what does it do? There have been people who have been members for 10+ years and never touched their account and expected to magically get a check.
STEP 1 – WHAT TO EXPECT – So what does being a member of a PRO do exactly? ASCAP BMI and SESAC collect royalties based on the amount of music that you wrote and/or published that is mainly played on Radio (commercial, satellite, internet, digital, NPR, college etc) and TV (network, cable, local, satellite, etc.) – Does this mean EVERY SPIN, EVERY AIRING of your music? Of course not. So keep this in mind going in! It would be humanly impossible to cover every single thing that plays everywhere. The PRO’s also pay royalties for a limited amount of ringtones, airlines, musak (elevator/ doctor’s office music), internet, etc.
The web is especially growing with their royalty payouts. There are so many things in court at this point that a lot of these cases are waiting to pan out to set standards for the future…. This is why the popular sites like youtube or myspace don’t pay out for your webhits.
If you are anticipating a heavy volume of radio play, or anything that’s going to be play on NATIONAL TV (this doesn’t mean your local public access station) then it would be a good idea to join: http://www.ascap.com/about/howjoin.asp
I would recommend joining as a writer AND a publisher.
If one thing sticks on this blog – go home with this:
1 song = 50% writing, 50% publishing
If you just join as one – you are getting half your money. Plain and simple.
We can go further with publishing deals and how keeping all of it vs. signing some away may or may not work to your advantage. We can also get into music libraries and what their exchange is in return for publishing.
There are many routes we can take moving forward – SO if you have any questions regarding ASCAP – whether you’re a current member or would like to join… feel free to twitter me your questions @RhythmJ and I will either answer you via twitter or another blog posting, depending on what you are trying to find out. Welcome to your new source of PRO FAQ!
Lastly – for all artists, producers, managers in the game who are trying to network, check out the ASCAP I Create Music Expo in LA this April. http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/events/expo/
Producers, you can also submit for the iStandard Producer Showcase at the ASCAP Expo http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/events/expo/2010/istandard.aspx
Synchronization royalties (‘synch licenses’) are paid for the use of copyrighted music in audiovisual productions, such as in DVDs, television, movies, commercial, and advertisements. Music used in news tracks are also synch licenses. Synchronization can extend to live media performances, such as plays and live theatre. They become extremely important for new media – the usage of music in the form of mp3, wav, flac files and for usage in webcasts, embedded media in microchips (e.g. karaoke), etc but the legal conventions are yet to be drawn.
A synchronization license is needed for a song to be reproduced onto a television program, film, video, commercial, radio, or even an 800 number phone message. It is called this because you are “synchronizing” the composition, as it is performed on the audio recording, to a film, TV commercial, or spoken voice-over. If a specific recorded version of a composition is used, you must also get permission from the record company in the form of a “master use” license. The synchronization royalty is paid to songwriters and publishers for use of a song used as background music for a movie, TV show, or commercial.
Synchronization royalties are due to the composer/song-writer or her publisher. They are strictly contractual in nature and vary greatly in amount depending on the subjective importance of the music, the mode of production and the media used. The royalty payable is that of mutual acceptance but is conditioned by industry practice.
Fees for song usage range from $500-$15,000, with superstar tracks reaching up to $20,000-$250,000. That amount usually includes master rights for broadcast and most other media rights, with a time frame ranging from three years to perpetuity. An additional home video fee is equal to or greater than those quoted. Synchronization rights are negotiated separately, with master and sync rights usually split 50/50, unless the song is a cover — a situation that favors the publisher ?
The price tag for iconic, well-known tunes can be staggering: Tracks by the Who and the O’Jays, used in the opening credits of CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and NBC’s “The Apprentice,” respectively, generate six-figure deals annually.
Example sync licenses fee’s from the NBC television:
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE
“For the Love of Money” – O’Jays – ($6000/week)
CHOPPING BLOCK
“Ring of Fire” – Johnny Cash – ($11,000/week)
ER
“Shadows and Regrets” – Yellowcard – ($6000/week)
HEROES
“Together” – Krystal Meyers – ($5000/week)
THE JAY LENO SHOW
“Hold On, I’m Comin’” – Sam & Dave – ($8000/week)
“Life Is a Highway” – Tom Cochrane – ($2000/day – $8000/week)
“Mess Around” - Ray Charles - ($6000/week)
See attached Sync License for: Synchronization Example
Marc Smilow
Thanks for taking a minute to read my Blog and I hope you found it helpful. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me anytime at expert@newindustrytips.com
In the United States, “performance royalties” are paid out mainly by three performance rights societies, BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. (Most foreign countries also have their own societies.) Under the copyright law, a songwriter controls the public performance of that songwriter’s songs. In essence, a songwriter designates either BMI, ASCAP or SESAC as his or her agent for the public performance rights of that songwriter’s songs. A songwriter can only affiliate with one society at a time. BMI, ASCAP or SESAC have arrangements with the parties – such as radio, television, concert venues, restaurants, etc. (essentially any user who performs music publicly) – who want to use the songs in the societies respective catalogs. For a licensing fee, BMI, ASCAP or SESAC will grant to that user what is called a “blanket license”, which means that the user can play any song, by any songwriter or publisher affiliated with that society, any number of times. It must be stressed that fees are collected from the entity or venue user, not from any actual performer.
For years radio airplay was the primary method for marketing almost all genres of music. Although that’s no longer strictly the case, what’s remarkable is that recording artists and record labels have never received any form of payment for this usage — not a single penny! Yes, publishers, songwriters and composers receive compensation via annual fees paid to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC by radio stations. These fees are then apportioned to publishers based on the number of times songs are played as logged by the stations and monitored by the performing arts societies.
The money earned by a songwriter from the societies (i.e., the performance royalty) is proportionate to the volume of airplay of the songwriter’s songs. Performance royalties are based on extremely complicated formulas. Basically, however, the societies monitor radio and television airplay to determine how often a song is heard and by how many people. The larger the audience and the more times a song is played, the more the income. Since it is impossible to cover all media outlets, BMI, ASCAP or SESAC rely on estimates based upon samples. BMI obtains its samples from radio station logs and television cue sheets (lists of compositions used on television). ASCAP gets its samples from taping radio stations and from television cue sheets. After deducting operating expenses, the societies divide the fees up and pay it to their affiliated writers and publishers. Whereas ASCAP and BMI operate on a not-for-profit basis, SESAC retains some income as profit. While ASCAP and BMI distribute all income from performance royalties to their composer and publisher affiliates (less an administrative fee), SESAC retains an undisclosed amount of performance royalty income. All three societies pay quarterly.
BMI, ASCAP or SESAC represent both songwriters and publishers. It should be noted that even where a songwriter is represented by a third party publisher, that songwriter needs to also join a society because songwriters and publishers are paid separately by the societies. To join ASCAP, a songwriter must have at least one song either published, recorded, or publicly performed. To join BMI is a bit easier. The writer must have a song either published, recorded, or likely to be performed publicly. SESAC is also unique among the US performing rights organizations in that it does not offer open membership – one must be approved to join. As for which organization is best, each songwriter will have to decide that for themselves because it is difficult to say with certainty which society pays more.
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc)
SESAC
Thanks for taking a minute to read my Blog and I hope you found it helpful. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me anytime at expert@newindustrytips.com
Mechanical Royalties refers to the mechanical license and has its origins in the ‘piano rolls’ on which music was recorded in the early part of the 20th Century. Although its concept is now primarily oriented to royalty income from sale of CDs, its scope is wider and covers any copyrighted audio composition that is rendered mechanically; that is, without human performers:
*tape recordings
*music videos
*ringtones
*MIDI files
*downloaded tracks
*DVDs, VHS, UMDs
*computer games
*musical toys etc.
The United States treatment of mechanical royalties is in sharp contrast to international practice.
In the United States, while the right to use copyrighted music for making records for public distribution (for private use) is an exclusive right of the composer, the Copyright Act provides that once the music is so recorded, anyone else can record the composition/song without a negotiated license but on the payment of the statutory compulsory royalty. Thus, its use by different artists could lead to several separately-owned copyrighted ‘sound recordings’.
The royalty rates in the table comprise of two elements: (i) a minimum rate applies for a duration equivalent to 5 minutes, or less, of a musical composition/song and/or a per-minute rate if the composition exceeds it, whichever is greater.
Compulsory Mechanical Royalty Rates – United States
Period Royalty Rate
01-01-1998 – 12-31-1999 7.10 cents or 1.35 cents/min
01-01-2000 – 12-31-2001 7.55 cents or 1.43 cents/min
01-01-2002 – 12-31-2003 8.00 cents or 1.55 cents/min
01-01-2004 – 12-31-2005 8.50 cents or 1.65 cents/min
01-01-2006 – 12-31-2007 9.10 cents or 1.75 cents/min
In a fair publishing agreement, every 100 units of currency that flows to the publisher gets divided as follows: 50 units go to the songwriter and 50 units to the publisher minus operating and administrative fees and applicable taxes. However, the music writer obtains a further 25 units from the publisher’s share, if the music writer retains a portion of the music publishing rights (as a co-publisher). In effect, the co-publishing agreement is a 50/50 share of royalties in favor of the songwriter if administrative costs of publishing are disregarded. This is near international practice.
When a company (recording label) records the composed music, say, on a CD master, it obtains a distinctly separate copyright to the sound recording, with all the exclusivities that flow to such copyright. The main obligation of the recording label to the songwriter and her publisher is to pay the contracted royalties on the license received.
While the compulsory rates remain unaffected, recording companies, in the US, will, typically, negotiate to pay not more than 75% of the compulsory rate where the songwriter is also the recording artist and will further (in the US) extend that to a maximum of 10 songs, even though the marketed recording may carry more than that number. This ‘reduced rate’ results from the incorporation of a “controlled composition” clause in the licensing contract since the composer as recording artist is seen to control the content of the recording.
Mechanical royalties for music produced outside of the United States are negotiated – there being no compulsory licensing – and royalty payments to the composer and her publisher for recordings are based on the wholesale, retail, or ‘suggested retail value’ of the marketed CDs.
In the US, the Harry Fox Agency, HFA, is the predominant licensor, collector and distributor for mechanical royalties, although there are several small competing organizations. For its operations, it charges about 6% as commission.
Record companies are responsible for paying royalties to those artists who have performed for a recording based on the sale of CDs by retailers.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day. I hope the information I have posted is helpful. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me anytime at expert@newindustrytips.com
Marc Smilow
Contacts you might find useful regarding Mechanical Publishing.
HARRY FOX AGENCY
AMERICA’S MECHANICAL RIGHTS SOCIETY
So I was recently asked by an artist/friend how does publishing work? My response is do you have a couple of hours to site down and we can go through everything and you can buy me lunch. I think I got the short end of the deal.
Now onto publishing 101…..Successful songwriters (Lyrics) and composers (Producers) have a relationship with a publishing company defined by a publishing contract or can become there own publishing company. You can do a publishing agreement with a major publishing company such as EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music and/or a smaller publishing company like Bug Music Publishing, The Royalty Network, Spirit Music Group or Kobalt Music Publishing or even a sub publishing company of one of the majors.
The publisher agrees to see to it that the composers receive royalties from various uses of their compositions. Generally they also provide an advance against future income. In return, the publishing company receives a percentage, which can be as high as 75% and varies for different kinds of royalties, or the current trend an administration deal. An administration deal is when a publisher just collects the above mentioned royalties for a smaller advance and a smaller percentage generally between 10% to 20%.
There are several types of royalties: Mechanical Royalties derive from the sale of recorded music, such as CDs or digital downloads. These royalties are paid to publishers by record companies (through the Harry Fox Agency as well as through American Mechanical Rights Agency in the U.S.) or can be directly collected through the record labels publishing royalties departments. Performance Royalties are collected by performance rights organizations such as SESAC, BMI or ASCAP and are paid by radio stations and others who broadcast recorded music. Synchronization Royalties are required when a composition is used in a film or television soundtrack. These royalties typically pass through the hands of a music publisher before they reach the composer.
A publisher will typically also handle copyright registration and “ownership” matters for the composer. Music print publishers also supervise the issue of songbooks and sheet music by their artists.
Thanks for taking a minute to read my Blog if you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me anytime at expert@newindustrytips.com
Marc Smilow
To become your own expert on publishing be sure to see the post on the industry handbook, Music, Money & Success
Publishing Companies Contact Information:
EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING
UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING
SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING
WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
http://www.warnerchappell.com/
BUG MUSIC/WINDSWEPT
ROYALTY NETWORK PUBLISHING
SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
http://www.spiritmusicgroup.com/
KOBALT MUSIC PUBLISHING
HARRY FOX AGENCY
AMERICA’S MECHANICAL RIGHTS SOCIETY
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc)
SESAC
SoundExchange is the non-profit organization that has been created by congress to collect and distribute digital performance royalites from the use of copyrighted music. In this day and age the performance royalties from online and digital sources is quickly rivaling the amounts generated from traditional avenues such as TV, Radio and more. SoundExchange currently represents over 3,500 record labels and over 31,000 featured artists and whose members include both signed and unsigned recording artists; small, medium and large independent record companies; and major label groups and artist-owned labels. They have distributed over $90 million in royalties to artists like yourself!
Check out the short video below to see how SoundExchange can help you and make you some money$$
In summary, SoundExchange handles the following:
• collects performance royalties from the statutory licensees;
• collects performance royalties from reciprocal agreements with foreign collecting societies for featured artists and labels;
• collects and processes all data associated with the performance of the sound recordings;
• allocates royalties for the performance of the sound recording based on all of the data collected and processed;
• makes distribution of the featured artist’s share directly to the artist;
• makes distribution of the SRCO’s share directly to the copyright owner;
• makes distribution of the non-featured artist’s share to AFTRA and AFM’s Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund; and
• provides detailed reports summarizing the titles, featured artists and royalty amounts for each of the sound recordings performed by the statutory licensees.
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