Many artists know the ins and outs of the music business, but many times we find that even the most established artists are missing out on much needed revenue streams (royalties) because they haven’t properly set up their business and/or wouldn’t know where to start or don’t have the time to set up these lucrative systems…and that’s where we come into play, we handle the burden for you.
Music Performing Rights Societies
• ASCAP (U.S.)
• BMI (U.S.)
• SESAC (U.S.)
Mechanical Royalties
• Music Reports
• Harry Fox Agency
• MLC
Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund
• AFM & SAG-AFTRA
Digital Performance Royalties
• SoundExchange (U.S.)
Copyright Resources
• U.S. Copyright Office
• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
Music Publisher Organizations
• National Music Publishers Association (U.S.)
• Music Publishers’ Association of the U.S. (U.S.)
• Nashville Publishers Network (NPN) (U.S.)
Music Resources By State
•Texas
•Florida
•Louisiana
•New York
•California
Licensing & Placement in Film / TV / Video Games
• SuperMusicVision
• MusicSupervisor.com
• Songtradr.com
Additional Resources
• Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts
• Music First
• Jingle Punks
Artists from Abroad (Getting a visa to work as an artist in the US)
• artistsfromabroad.org
INVENTORY OF WORKS
Below is a link to an easy online template for organizing and managing your musical works and intellectual property. Open the template and select “Make a copy” from the Google Docs “File” menu. Save the copy to your Google Drive, then share with people who might need access (co-writers, co-producers, your manager, etc.). When just getting started with inputting your songs for the first time, don’t get hung up on needing to find every single piece of information. You can always go back and fill in ISWC numbers or other empty fields later. Start with the information you know; Title, co-writers, publishers and splits.
SPLIT SHEETS
The copyright for songs and musical compositions (musical works) accrue to the author(s) the moment the musical works are “fixed in a tangible means of expression”, i.e. written down or recorded in an audible form (including video that includes audio). The copyright (the intellectual property connected to that musical work) becomes the property of the author(s) when that musical work is written down or recorded. When there is only one “author (songwriter, composer, lyricist), that author automatically owns 100% of the copyright for that work.
It’s important to be aware that registering your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office is a separate matter, which is also important. Owning a copyright and registering a copyright are two different things.
Ownership of a copyright becomes more complicated when there is more than one author of a work. This is where “Songwriter Split Sheets” become very handy and often prove essential. Songwriter Split Sheets are a method for authors to agree on the relevant percentages for authorship and ownership.
COPYRIGHT RESOURCES
Songs are intellectual property. Songs and other musical compositions are often referred to as “works”. A creator or creators of a work (also referred to as a composer, songwriter, author, or lyricist, in the case of someone who writes lyrics) owns a work as soon as it’s “fixed in a tangible means of expression”, e.g. written down, captured in an audio recording or a video recording that includes audio, etc.
It is not required that copyrights for works be registered with the Library of Congress, but doing so in a timely fashion entitles the copyright owner to additional remedies in instances when their copyrights have been infringed upon.
Cue sheets are the primary means by which performing rights organizations track the use of music in films and TV. Without cue sheets, it would be nearly impossible for such composers and publishers to be compensated for their work.
An accurately filled out cue sheet is a log of all the music used in a production. This information includes:
- Series/Film Title
- Series/Film Title AKA
- Episode Title
- Episode Title AKA
- Episode Number
- Air Date
- Show Length
- Music Length
- Production Company Information
- Song/Cue Title
- Composer
- Publisher
- Performing rights society
- Timing
- Usage
If there is more than one composer for an individual piece of music, or if the writer and publisher split their royalties on other than a 50/50 basis, this must also be indicated on the cue sheet, and these become important factors in your PRO’s (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC) payment calculations.
With the increase in independent producers and cable operations, the filing of accurate cue sheets has become even more crucial to tracking the use of music in film and television productions. These newcomers to the industry are sometimes unfamiliar with, or unaware of, the legal and professional responsibilities involved in using the music of composers and publishers whose rights are represented by performing rights societies.
Since PRO calculation of royalties depends upon a detailed and accurate cue sheet, it is in composers’ and publishers’ best interests to make sure that cue sheets are properly prepared and submitted by the production company. It is not uncommon and is often helpful for a composer to prepare a cue sheet him/herself for comparison purposes or ask to see those filled out by the production company before it is submitted to the publisher and/or the performing rights organization. Below you will find a CUE sheet along with instructions, feel free to download, complete and turn in to your PRO for processing and payment.