BMI,ASCAP,Publishing question!!

N

NOVA_757

New member
I started working with this artist , he's gonna be releasing an album this summer on an indie label that is under a well known major label.

Imma be producing about 5 songs for him. Of course i know to copyright them and everything, however since i kno that he is going to release this under a legit label, i have a question about gaining royalties.


This is my first time working with an artists thats gonna print a mass unit of cds like this and I know i need to join BMI or ASCAP..im leaning towards ASCAP tho.

Should i register as a writer, publisher or BOTH?

i read somewhere on the board that if im registerd as a writer,...i have to find a publisher in order for me to collect mechanical royalties?

If so could i avoid that by registering as a Writer & Publisher..by "publishing" the songs myself?

Can someone PLEASE shed some light on this for me?
 
Register as both. By law if you create a song , whether it is a beat or a beat with words, you are the copyright holder (Publisher).

If you wrote a song or beat then signed it to a outside publisher (Publishing company), you WOULD NOT be the publisher, but a song writer signed to a Publishing deal. Further more, you couldn’t sell the beat or song yourself since you don’t own it, the Publisher does)

The publisher would give you 50% of whatever it earns, (from CD sales, Radio play, sync licensing, etc) But Why give a Publisher your song (to have forever) of you can publish it yourself and keep 100% of the money from licensing?
 
ok thanks 4 ur help...another question tho

at first i was leaning towards ascap since i could sign up as BOTH writer/publisher...

but i talked to my professor(music production,video, protools class..he also has his own band) and he told me that it would be better to go with BMI

so should i go with BMI and sign up separately as a Writer and then Publisher


OR

with ascap..sign up at the same time as BOTH writer/publisher?

because they have the option to sign up as a writer...publisher....writer/ publisher



you also mentioned in the other post that i should sign up with the harry fox agency to collect cd royalties...

do i still sign up with them if i sign up as a publisher for BMI/ASCAP?....
 
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BMI AND ASCAP pay you performance royalties, not mechanical royalties. Mechanical royalties are song writers #1 source of income. Lest say you write a complete song, (words and music.) You register your copyright, then sign up with ASCAP or BMI. You pitch that song to record companies and BAD BOY records say they want to use your song for a album.

To do so, you would issue them a Mechanical License. This license states that for every record sold, you will receive a royalty. The royalty rate right now is 9.1 cents a record. So if BAD BOY records sold a million copies of a cd that contained your song, you would be owed $91,000.

If you signed up with the The Harry Fox Agency, they would collect the $91,000 from BAD BOY records for you and give you about $85,000 (they have fees) . If you did not join the Harry Fox Agency, you would have to collect your money from BAD BOY records yourself. Would they pay you all your money? How would you know how many records sold? The Harry Fox agency audits record companies and protects you.
 
No, it's not.

You have a copyright the minute you make some work.

"Doo doo, ca ca, merde, Scheisse"

See, that is copyrighted. Right this second. Don't take my sh!t. (Get it?! haha!)

Publishing is the right to shop it and get paid.
 
but i talked to my professor(music production,video, protools class..he also has his own band) and he told me that it would be better to go with BMI
Click to expand...

Why would it be better to go with BMI? im trying to find out the difference between BMI and ASCAP, it sounds like it would be best to go with ASCAP since you can get licences as a Wrter and Publisher?

BMI AND ASCAP pay you performance royalties, not mechanical royalties. Mechanical royalties are song writers #1 source of income. Lest say you write a complete song, (words and music.) You register your copyright, then sign up with ASCAP or BMI. You pitch that song to record companies and BAD BOY records say they want to use your song for a album.

To do so, you would issue them a Mechanical License. This license states that for every record sold, you will receive a royalty. The royalty rate right now is 9.1 cents a record. So if BAD BOY records sold a million copies of a cd that contained your song, you would be owed $91,000.

If you signed up with the The Harry Fox Agency, they would collect the $91,000 from BAD BOY records for you and give you about $85,000 (they have fees) . If you did not join the Harry Fox Agency, you would have to collect your money from BAD BOY records yourself. Would they pay you all your money? How would you know how many records sold? The Harry Fox agency audits record companies and protects you.
Click to expand...

So BMI and ASCAP only give performance royalties which would be doing shows and concerts? and if you want to get royalties from someone playing your music on the radio you would have to issue them a mechanical license when they want to purchase your music from BMI or ASCAP? or do you have to go with the Harry Fox Agency to issue a mechanical license?

Sorry if this is confusing, Im just trying to understand the process and who does what.
 
if i remeber correctly you can not sign up for both writer/publishing company under 1 PRO..

you need to be part of 1 or the other..example

BMI as a writer
ASCAP as a publisher

or vice versa

hince why they offer you ro sign up for one or the other for free..
 
Joining BMI as composer/writer, and ASCAP as publisher will cost you

NO dollars!!!!

Learned it here two months ago. Read, everyone. It's free.
 
Damn I thought I had this publishing figured out but this "Mechanical Rights" ish is bugging me out. I went on the Harry Fox's website and here is what I took from it:

TV, Movies, Radio - You get your royalties through ASCAP/BMI

Placement on an album - you get your royalties through Harry Fox

Someone that has been through this process please shed some light!!
 
bknot1 said:
if i remeber correctly you can not sign up for both writer/publishing company under 1 PRO..

you need to be part of 1 or the other..example

BMI as a writer
ASCAP as a publisher

or vice versa

hince why they offer you ro sign up for one or the other for free..
Click to expand...

You are Partially correct my friend...

You CANNOT belong to BOTH agencies for the SAME title because the agreement IS EXCLUSIVE in nature....HOWEVER you CAN belong to one company as a WRITER and the OTHER as a PUBLISHER....

I MYSELF am registered to ASCAP as BOTH...
I am registered as a WRITER AND I have a PUBLISHING Company ALSO registered with ascap....

The reason this is possible is...
When you register as a writer, they require that you give a 9 digit number...USUALLY people use their Social Security Number here. Since they will only allow you to use a number ONCE a person could NOT turn around and register a PUBLISHING company using the SAME number or it WILL be rejected......

HOWEVER

I have an LLC (Which consist of MORE people than just me) and it has a TAX ID number....This is ALSO a 9 digit number which CAN be used during the registration process...THEREFORE...I was able to register BOTH myself AND my publishing company with the SAME agency....

I am almost POSITIVE that ASCAP is aware of this....and most CERTAINLY would have REJECTED my application if this was NOT allowable....


:cheers:
BBM
 
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BigBrotherMotown said:
I am almost POSITIVE that ASCAP is aware of this....and most CERTAINLY would have REJECTED my application if this was NOT allowable....


:cheers:
BBM
Click to expand...


This is a little aside:

ASCAP is not allowed to reject your LLC in this case, as it is a SEPARATE ENTITY. That is the whole point of corporate entities.

My corporation could sue me, for example. Some would say: How can you sue yourself? But my corporation is different from me in the eyes of the law.

So you aren't really signing up as two people in your example, is my point. You are John Doe, writer, and John Doe and Friends, LLC, or whatever. Big difference.
 
So out of bmi and ascap is either better, do they take a percentage out of the royalties they collect, if so how much?
 
Ascap and Bmi questions

Hello, maybe someone can help me. I am in the process of putting together a writing team that consists of two writers. But here is a problem. One of the writer is under bmi and the other is under ascap. But i want both to be under one company name. Lets say. Writeway is the company's name and Jim(ascap) and Tom (bmi) are the writers. What can I do to put both Jim and Tom under Writeway if they are under different publishing companies or will jim and tom have to sign up as individual publishers with their companies. Is there a way that they can be under the same umbrella and have different publishing companies.

Please Somebody help me....
thank Native
 
bmi and ascap aren't publishing companies.they don't need to sign to a publisher either. there's no problem with the situation right now. if 'writeway' became a publisher, then they(writers) would both have to list their publisher and it's shares, as well as each other.
 
BMI, ASCAP Qestions

I have a music group, two who sign and myself the owner. One of the singers writes the songs as well and the other does all the producing part about it. We all want to split all earnings in equal parts for all of us, but someone told us we have to register with BMI or ASCAP to get pay for royalties. Now when we went to do this it only asked for the songwriter’s info. The name of the group is register with the state and I also have a corporation opened for music production, all the groups songs are copyrighted with all three of our names. How can we register with BMI or ASCAP in a way where we all get equal parts for the royalties?
 
Hi
Do you guys know if it's possible to register under Bmi as a writer and under ASCAP as a publisher???
Thank you for your help
 
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