Publishing Beats Info Needed
street_muzik
3,919 Posts
Hey, everybody. What's good? It's been a minute since I posted a topic, and once again it's for something I need. Big surprise. always comes around when he needs something. I think some others would benefit from the conversation so I'm OK with it. This is for the people in tha bizzmess.What's the whole concept around publishing? Do you sign up with ASCAP or BMI to keep a record of your published music? Stack credits? I know I need it but I'm not sure what for.I'm asking because I have an opportunity to license some beats out for TV use and I want my shit straight and legit.Can I set up a name like "So and So Music Publishing"? What's the deal. Shed some light for us lil guys or at least point me in the right direction. Thanks.
Comments
peace, stein. . .
cool to see how that's broken down.
thanks.
hope this helps. peace, stein. . .
i only can tell you of my experience with bmi and i'm 100% happy with their service. i'm not sure about your second question but i dont understand how you could publish something that does not exist. it's not a "work" unless someone agrees to put it out or license it. peace, stein. . .
hellllllll yessssssss
jeeez. . .i only get 4 checks a year w/ bmi. ayo!
peace, stein. . .
Man this stuff is hard for the independent person who can't afford a lawyer.
So should I sign up with ASCAP/BMI before I submit my work or only after after they accept it? I'm not selling the beats. Just licensing.
yeah I don't really understand how they are different.
Any strutters can vouch for Socan?
I think I only get 4 checks a year too. Its definitely nice to get some random yaper off a tv liscense somewhere in the world. When you have a video on MTV the checks can be kinda crazy.
If you are going through a publishing company, as Einstein does with Chrysalis, then they'll handle the publisher end of the work and basically you'll just have your writer creidt registered with ASCAP/BMI and then you'll get sent statements and royalties (if there are any). You would probably be getting statements and checks from the publishing company directly (because they'll take a cut) and then the statements you'd get from ASCAP would be for performance royalties, like how Einstein's song was played on Run's House X amount of times.
It's tough to get big placements without a publishing company, but if you do, the company will take a chunk. But that chunk saves you the headache of the paperwork. If you're just a indie dude who wants to make beats for tv shows and stuff you'll have to do some work and try to get in with a publishing company or get in good with some music programmers.
Either way, you can always sign up with ascap for free and register beats that you have. If, for instance, they got some sort of radio play or were on some sort of tv show in the Netherlands and you had no idea about it you'd still get a performance royalty as long as the tv show/radio show filed reports.
I'm not an expert and still get confused by a lot of it, but I have both a publishing and a writers account with ascap. I signed a deal with a publishing company, so basically my publishing account is irrelevant for the songs that are in the contract. The publishing company takes care of that part.
once you have the songs licensed you can sign up with bmi/ascap(they will tell you dont bother us until you have a song sold) if you composed 100% of the beat you are the "writer" and the "publisher" if you wish. you will need to register twice. register as writer(maybe $100 w/ bmi). then as a publishing company(around $500 w/bmi) you can be taza one publishing company ltd. or something like that. but i dont know anyone who self publishes i just know you can. maybe someone can shed some light? peace, stein. . .
oh yeah. you dont need a lawyer for any of this stuff. you will need to file a fictitious name statement(d.b.a.) for the publishing company name.
with ascap I didn't have to do all of that. no ficticious name statement or anything. They just check to see if your name is already taken as a pub company name. I can't 100% vouch for all of this being correct though because I am not on the level of Einstein, Thes, or Jake. The checks I get are usually smaller. For all i know I could have everything registered incorrectly.
Oh yeah, it was all free with ascap. I think. It's been awhile.
yeah, i only mentioned the fictitious name statement because if he is the publisher and they give him a check made out to taza one publishing ltd. he's gonna need to open a business bank account in that name. but thats a whole nother story.
peace, stein. . .
Though I probably risk making a mistake here somewhere in my explanation, I am self taught in all of this, I'll try and break it down on the simplest level in ASCAP terms.
Lets say you compose a song, beat, cue, whatever. There is a share of %100 to that song as far as ASCAP is concerned. That is to say, When you register a work with ASCAP, you will need to account, in one way or another who "owns" all the parts equaling the 100 percent. Now, that 100% is split into two equal but entirely seperate parts: Writers (50%) and Publishers (50%) which makes the whole. There can be numerous writers and publishers for each individual piece but the whole never totals more than 100%.
Here are some practical apps:
Let's say you make a beat and title it BIG SHIT. You will need to go on Ascap and register said work BIG SHIT, of which you will need to provide them the information I listed above so that when BIG SHIT earns credits, the appropriate parties can get paid. So let's say it's all you, no one else involved and basically you own that beach.
Writer: Taza One - ownership share 50%
Publisher: (whatever publishing entity you create) TAZA ONE MUSIC (ASCAP) - ownership share 50%
So let's say this track gets used on an MTV show. Everytime the show runs you will earn "credits" based on duration of your track and the number of times it plays in an accounting quarter. Let's say it played 8 times, earning the track a total of 10 credits. Each quarter, the value of a credit is determined by the amount of money ASCAP has take in, I think on my last statement it was $8 a credit. SO, ascap ows track BIG SHIT 80$, which means that for this quarter, Writer Taza One will get a check in the mail for 40 dolalrs and publisher Taza One Music will get a check (made out to that name) for 40 dollars. Two seperate accountings each quarter to each entity reporting on the activity of songs they have registered. And it's free to register tracks. There is also a database to search ownership online.
Now, not trying to complicate things, it's actually pretty simple because they handle the math, but take for instance TUXEDO RAP by People Under THe Stairs. I made the beat, Double did the cuts, we both rapped, so we just agreed to split everything 50/50. But that actaully means we are splitting shit 25/25/25/25:
Writer: c. Portugal (25%), M. Turner (25%)
Publisher: PL70 Music (ascap) 25%, Barchild Music (ascap) 25%
So it ends up being 50/50. And you can split it up even more that that if you need to.
Again, if I made a mistake someone please correct me because I am self taught in this game.
Anyways, the way forward then, if you roll with the ASCAP, is to set up both a writer registrationa and a publishing registration. One is you as a person, and the other is an entity that collects the publishing on your behalf. They are two seperate apps, two seperate accounts, but ultimately you get paid. And it is free to register songs, so there is no harm in registering beats if they haven't been released but may be used as cues on TV. If that happens, just make sure the title is the same on the cue sheet as the song you registered.
here's a link to things I have registered as a writer, and you can click on the tracks to see the breakdowns:
http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requ...ct&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1
Give me shout on the pm if I can help out in any way, like I said, I ride for the organization and business of good business!
So let's say, hypothetically, I walk up into the joint with ten songs and they decide to take all ten at $100 a pop to license. I would get credits on top of that every time it's used or just if it's used by others in the future?
I wonder how they set the credit rate?
Anyone else that has more insight, please share. Fascinating stuff.
Yes, every time it appears in a source that is accounting to Ascap on thier end, radio, video, tv, movie, commercial, some performances, etc., you will see it in both the writer and publishing statements and recieve credits, and thus cash.
It has to do with the amount of money they take in during a quarter, divided by how many payable credits there are. Or something like that. I think it's non-prof but don't qoute me.
Now as far as my 16 checks goes, I may be wrong but I 'm pretty sure every frickin week I'm getting a check from these cats; 1 for international writers, 1 for international publishers, 1 for domestic writers, 1 for domestic publishers, x 4 times a year.
now of course all of this is negated if they "buy out" the music or have other sort of contractual restrictions, it can get murky in that sense.
From what I've seen on my statements, network TV (abc, nbc, cbs, fox) and movies bring pretty good money. MTV is good and bds in large amounts can be super lucrative.
So just to clarify the cutting would fall under the publishing % ?
Everything I've licensed the samples have been under that radar (knock on wood), but I'm curious when it comes to mainstream TV & commercials. I haven't tried to enter that world because of sampling.
Its geared towards the UK, but substitute MCPS for Ascap / BMI and it will give you a brief overview.
http://www.bemuso.com/musicbiz/royaltiesandlicenses.html
All you American producers need to move to a qualifying territory or at least record in a qualifying territory and you can ALSO get paid for the sound recordings performance on radio, the US is one of the few countries that does not pay performers or producers for radio play.
You would also do well to sign up with Sound Exchange as there is a limited internet broadcast right in the US so if you get internet radio play from licenced stations you can get paid for it.
http://www.soundexchange.com/
You'd also do well to get involved with MusicFIRST who are fighting to get radio to pay fair rates to performers for airplay
http://www.musicfirstcoalition.org/#/home/
BMI is the poor man's ASCAP. Period. LOL...I also have m on publishing company since 2004. If you need hrlp, holla. I just made it in LA. I'm in WeHo. Peace.
Me too. I may hit you up, neighbor.
I know this is probably a private matter, but what's a good synch rate for an unknown at a small national cable channel. I don't care much at this point. I just want to get published so I can join ASCAP and get the ball rolling but I'd never do it without a synch fee up front.
In this day and age I don't see why it would matter. You could have an album released solely on your website and it would be a legitimate release.
Just sign up.
I've got a question. If they used a song in Runs House what happens when the dvd comes around. Do they renegotiate with you or did they anticipate the dvd release and include that in the deal? I'm always curious about how that works.
The contract you sign that goes along with the cue sheet is a standard MTV thing, basically no advance, synch fee, etc. but we're MTV, it will get played, and you will get payed (publishing and writers).
And indeed I do.
now when it comes out on DVD I am pretty sure I will continue to get some sort of collection from ascap though the credit amount may be different from airtime. We had a song on the show girlfriends and when it went to dvd we kept (and continue to) get paid.
money for nothing and the chicks for free my people.
How do you handle samples?
ha ha. I'm the same.