ASCAP Vs BMI Vs SESAC | Comparison of Pros | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM

ASCAP Vs BMI Vs SESAC | Comparison of Pros | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM

ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM Posted on May 21, 2015 by Songtrust Staff Repost – ASCAP, BMI & SESAC: What’s The Difference? You’re indie. You’re authentic. You’re DIY. But you still want to get paid for your music. Who doesn’t? Admitting that is a crucial first step to a long career as a musician. And affiliating with a Performing Rights Organization, or “PRO,” is the second. As per the Songtrust music publishing glossary, PRO’s are “societies responsible for collecting income on behalf of songwriters and music publishers when a song is publicly broadcast.” That means PROs track down cash for you when your music is played on television and AM/FM airwaves, through internet radio services like Pandora, at a club, inside a restaurant, at a concert, or publicly broadcast in some other fashion. These places and stations pay fees to PROs, who in turn pay their registered songwriters, most of whom are owed more money than they know. Songtrust can help you get started with ASCAP and BMI. Find out how! http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 1 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM ASCAP, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Launched: 1914 Official site: ASCAP.com Twitter: @ASCAP Location: New York, London, Miami, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta Vitals: With a 500,000-strong membership of composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers, this non-profit is, according to its website, the only American PRO created and controlled by composers, writers, and music publishers—its Board of Directors is elected by its members. “A music creator is like a small business,” reads ASCAP’s website, “and we exist to ensure that ASCAP members are paid promptly and fairly when their compositions are performed publicly.” Notable affiliates: Justin Timberlake, Vampire Weekend, Duke Ellington, Dave Matthews, George Gershwin, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Marc Anthony, Henry Mancini Fee: One-time fee of $50 as a writer (free when you sign up through Songtrust) and $50 as a publisher. Publishing Companies: In order to collect your publisher’s share of royalties as an ASCAP member, you need to have an ASCAP publishing company (Becoming a Songtrust member will also allow you to collect your publisher’s share). Pay Schedule: Click here for ASCAP’s writer and publisher pay schedules. BMI, Broadcast Music, Inc. Launched: 1939 Official site: BMI.com Twitter: @BMI Location: Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, London, Atlanta, Miami, Puerto Rico Vitals: Founded by radio executives as a non-profit, BMI now boasts more than 650,000 members. According to its website, “BMI is the bridge between songwriters and the businesses and organizations that play their music publicly…BMI serves as an advocate for the value of music, representing 8.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 650,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.” Notable affiliates: Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Sam Cooke, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton Fee: Free for songwriters, $150 as a publisher Publishing Companies: You do not need a publishing company to collect your publisher’s share of http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 2 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM royalties at BMI. Pay Schedule: BMI pays royalties quarterly. Click here for more info. SESAC Launched: 1930 Official site: SESAC.com Twitter: @SESAC Location: New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, London, Nashville Vitals: SESAC is the only PRO in the U.S. that is not open to all songwriters; instead, you must receive an invitation to join. SESAC represents over 400,000 songs on behalf of its 30,000 affiliated writers. “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,” reads the SESAC site. Note: the SESAC abbreviation is, today, meaningless; the organization was originally founded to serve European composers underrepresented in America before branching out to become a full service PRO. Notable affiliates: Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Cassandra Wilson, Rush, MGMT, Mumford and Sons (via PRS). Fee: None (invitation only to join). Pay Schedule: Click here for SESAC’s royalty distribution schedule. Let Songtrust help you professionally register songs with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC! Share On ← Music Publishing News Roundup: Friday May Music Publishing News Roundup: May 22nd, 15, 2015 2015 → http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 3 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM 152 thoughts on “Repost – ASCAP, BMI & SESAC: What’s The Difference?” The Entrepreneurial Guide To Being a Musician in the 21st Century | David Das December 30, 2011 […] If you’re not already a member of a PRO (in the USA, your choices are ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC), that should be on your list of things to do if your music begins to get airplay. Here’s Hypebot’s helpful comparison of the three services. […] Reply Yesterday's News February 6, 2012 Thanks for this article. I’m about to join a PRO in order to potentially publish my music, and I was quite confused about which one to go with. Reply James Aviaz February 6, 2012 Our pleasure! If you need help affiliating with any of the PROs, it’s all included as part of the sign-up process with Songtrust. If you’ve got any more specific questions, hit us up: [email protected] Reply http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 4 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM Unsure February 10, 2012 can you be a member of sesac and bmi together at the same time ? Reply James Aviaz February 10, 2012 In the US, you can only be affiliated with the one PRO at the one time. So, you’d need to pick your favorite. Reply Neophyte October 23, 2013 Do PRO’S like BMI also help link songwriters with artists who would be a good fit for the songs they write? http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 5 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM Pat Whitrock October 23, 2013 The Writer Relations department of BMI or another PRO can sometimes hook writers up with artists looking for songs. If possible, going to a PRO event or workshop can be a great way to connect directly with someone that can help. Kipp May 20, 2015 No, nor can you be registered with BMI and ASCAP at the same time. Reply Steve Cass February 29, 2012 Hi. Please help me understand your service: What I do understand is that we can sign up with you so you are authorized to be a part of our revenue streams (PRO’s and mechanical). If we sign up with you, are we signing up with you solely as a collection agent for the PRO’s (publisher’s share) and from mechanicals that aren’t collected by HFA? For mechanicals, does this mean that affilitation with you is as it would be as a publisher with the HFA? Or is Songtrust simply a registrar so we might sign up with PRO’s and other collection agencies? If so, how do we pay your for your service? What happens if we’re already signed up with a PRO as a publisher? Sorry for so many questions!! Reply http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 6 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM James Aviaz February 29, 2012 Hey Steve! Thanks so much for this. Let’s get to your questions. 1. We act as your publishing administrator – collecting all your publishing royalties from ASCAP and HFA. We also collect from Music Reports and CMRRA (in Canada). 2. Again, we act as your publishing administrator – this means you authorize us to collect on your behalf. We pay you 100% of all these royalties. You pay us a yearly fee – see: http://songtrust.com/plans. 3. No problem! We work hand-in-hand with ASCAP to collect all publishing royalties on your behalf. Reply Steve Cass March 1, 2012 Hi James, thanks for the reply. I’m still not clear on some things. First of all, if we’ve already done the admin work with the PRO, give me a reason why we should authorize you to collect on our behalf. Secondly, one of the reasons we would consider using your service would be because we don’t have a major label release within the last 12 months in order to sign up with the HFA. How is signing up with Songtrust an alternative/substitute or whatever to having an HFA publishers account? Is it possible for us to sign up with you and not authorize you to be an admin for the PROs but to use your service as an alternative to having a publishers HFA account? http://blog.songtrust.com/songwriting-tips/pros-whats-the-difference/ Page 7 of 64 ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC | Comparison of PROs | Songtrust 8/17/15 10:46 AM Advantages/disadvantages? Thanks! Reply James Aviaz March 1, 2012 Hey Steve, Think of Songtrust as the easiest way to register songs and collect royalties.

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    64 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us