ASCAP and BMI are not Publishers

They're P.R.O.'s....an acronym for "Performance Rights Organization". A lot of people mistake ASCAP and BMI as being publishing companies.. someone will ask "What publishing do you have?" and they'll say "ASCAP".. if you say that in front of the wrong person, your opportunity just went out the window. Music publishers are completely separate entities and play the same role as you the artist. Both sign up to get royalties collected and distributed. Below are the most common P.R.O.'s to become familiar with.

ASCAP

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than 400,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. Through agreements with affiliated international societies, ASCAP also represents hundreds of thousands of music creators worldwide. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization created and controlled by composers, songwriters and music publishers, with a Board of Directors elected by and from the membership.

ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of their copyrighted works. ASCAP's licensees encompass all who want to perform copyrighted music publicly. ASCAP makes giving and obtaining permission to perform music simple for both creators and users of music.

BMI

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) collects license fees on behalf of the more than 475,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers it represents and distributes those fees as royalties to members whose works have been publicly performed.

As a performing right organization, or PRO, BMI issues licenses to various users of music, including television and radio stations and networks; new media, including Internet services and websites and mobile technology businesses such as ringtone and ringback providers; satellite audio services like XM and Sirius; nightclubs, discos, hotels, bars, restaurants and other businesses; digital jukeboxes; and live concert venues.

BMI currently represents some more than 6.5 million compositions — a number that is constantly growing. As a result, BMI has, over the years, implemented a number of technological innovations in its continuing effort to gather the most accurate information available about where, when and how its members’ compositions are played or performed, as well as ensuring that royalty payments are made in as precise and timely a manner as possible.

SESAC

SESAC was founded in 1930 to serve European composers not adequately represented in the United States. Though the company name was once an acronym, today it is simply SESAC and not an abbreviation of anything.

With an international reach and a vast repertory that spans virtually every genre of music, SESAC is the fastest growing and most technologically adept of the nation’s performing rights companies.

SESAC will represent the right for your music to be played in public. Songwriters and publishers are paid royalties based upon how much their songs are played. The system required to compute compensation is based on many factors, including state-of-the-art monitoring, computer database information and broadcast logs. Unlike ASCAP and BMI, SESAC utilizes a selective process when affiliating songwriters and publishers, resulting in a roster of affiliates who have personal relationships with the SESAC staff. In short, SESAC’s creative staff provides affiliated songwriters and publishers with a level of service and attention unparalleled in the industry.

SESAC’s corporate headquarters in the heart of Nashville’s Music Row houses all of the company’s divisions, from creative to licensing to administration. The company also has offices in New York, London, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami.

SoundExchange - an independent, nonprofit performance rights organization.

SoundExchange is the non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio (such as SIRIUS XM), internet radio, cable TV music channels and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board, which is appointed by The U.S. Library of Congress, has entrusted SoundExchange as the sole entity in the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties on behalf of featured recording artists, master rights owners (like record labels), and independent artists who record and own their masters.

Now that you're familiar with PRO's, sign up with Soundexchange AND either ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC and you're well on your way to collecting those royalty checks! Happy Recording

http://www.soforealproductions.com

Real Beats for Real Artists

The Low Down on Radio Play

Radio play.. such a glowing phrase.. something every aspiring singer and rapper dreams of! Imagine driving down the interstate tuned into HOT such and such and all of the sudden you hear the intro of your single you recorded last summer. Now you have to figure out how to dial everyone you can while keeping it on the road!

So now you may think the money is going to roll in.... not quite. I'm going to dispell a few myths about "radio play."

Myth 1: I'll make money with radio play! Reality: Probably not. It takes a lot of spins... a LOT of spins to even get recognized as 'potentially' getting paid. Then once you get a lot of spins, you won't get paid a dime unless you actually wrote the song, or it's spun outside of the U.S., China, Iran, etc... The only way you will see a nice royality check is if you're the songwriter for a smash hit. And unfortunately only a few of those happen a year.

Myth 2: To get radio play, I have to have BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC. Reality: Yeah, but even more important. You have to be registered with Neilsen BDS. This is the system that counts your spins. So if BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC doesn't know how many spins you got, there's no way they could attempt to distribute a royality check to you. Besides BDS, there's Mediabase which is also important. You'll need to register your songs with both of them. You can see how many times your song was spun but you have to pay for it.

Myth 3: I have to pay to get my song played on the radio! Reality: probably so. Even if it is illegal, common sense is that the only reason you hear garbage music on the radio is that someone paid someone to play it. This is called payola... very illegal but very hard to patrol. We're not going to recommend paying for radio play, but if you want instant success LEGALLY, you're probably better off buying radio commercials to play snippets of your music and point them back to your website to get the full version.

I could name some more but.. the point is radio play is nice for the ego, but there are so many other ways you as an independent artist can be successful. Its all about reaching your potential fans, and the internet is one of major alternatives to the traditional terrestrial radio station. If you do happen to hear your song on the local radio and you didn't have to pay for it, congratulations. Build on the new fans you just made. Happy Recording.

http://www.soforealproductions.com/

Real Beats for Real Artists