COMPOSERs, PUBLISHERs, and PROs - Oh My!

liftedCREATION

liftedCREATION

liftedCREATION
Dear Future Producers,

I write this post for NEW independent musicians like myself. I have worked so hard to get to this point, and sadly. It's only the starting line. What? The "starting line". It's true, last year I was a non-PRO affiliated composer (stop laughing) and I spent MANY hours working, very hard just like my fellow hobbyists and amateur musicians. Thinking, this is the way to success. It isn't. Listen if you are making music, and you want to sell it. There is a way. And I believe I have found where to START. Read on.

So here goes, I want to share my experience with becoming affiliated with a PRO. In my case the ASCAP. In the following posts I will present you with thoughts and ideas that are, I know, IMPORTANT to UNDERSTAND. If your NEW to the music business. You need this NOWledge. <- That's on purpose.

The very first thing you should do. Before you even think about selling music, is become affiliated with a PRO. The reason behind this is, PROs pay royalties to you. If you haven't done this. Then they don't know who to pay. It's not hard to register, but it does cost money. But before you run over there and register, they expect you to be a selling artist. They don't accept EVERYONE. You have to have sold something, or prove you have a "work for hire" that needs royalties tracked. Otherwise, why sign up right?

So, you've sold a few non-PRO tracks, GREAT! There you go. Now it's time to rush over to the PROs and register! Don't believe me? Read on.

I am going to split this post up. It's long. It's the most I ever gave back. It's my way of saying, "Here is the rope, now climb." If you don't feel like climbing. Fine by me, I'll be at the top. And by "climbing" I mean, hard work, dedication, education and self perseverance. NOT making music.

More to come.

If anyone out there has more information to add please do. If you know more than I am putting in these posts, please say something. I am new to this myself and would love help climbing that rope as well. Otherwise, here goes. Oh and one more thing "THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE", meaning, you should find out for yourself, consult with lawyers and READ. Ok. Onward!

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and READ THIS NOW!

Here is "the deal". I noticed some of you guys are not signed up to any PROs. Even if you make music "as a hobby" you should be still registering your music with these guys and and copyrighting your music (copyright topic for later).

YOU NEED To become a "writer and publisher", there are two, at the ASCAP, or at the BMI or some other PRO (performing rights organization) place...the membership is expensive...a whopping...hold your breath, you might not be able to afford this...$70 for a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP!!!...(that's $35 for writer and $35 for publisher) I know..It's like they are robbing us?!? No they are not, this is the most important part of this ENTIRE process...read on.

Ok, my amateur and hobbyists friends why do you need this?...(this includes me, because I just signed up myself by the way, the registration process takes about 15 days) Do it TODAY!

So now when you edit your song on your favorite stock media marketplace. You will see two white boxes that say COMPOSER and PUBLISHER. Most of you have Composer down, that's you (but this makes no difference if you do not REGISTER). Who published your song?? Don't know do you? That's because the answer is YOU! You published it! (this is why you register, you get 50% for writing your tune and 50% publishing it) And then a text window that says....PRO. Anyone following me? That's where you put ASCAP or BMI Here is how this works to my understanding. Please know this is a complicated mess since the invention of, the record.

Ok, here we go, say you sold a copy of your royalty free music at your favorite stock media marketplace for an incredible 5 dollars...The marketplace takes their cut of OH MY GOD $2.50!! AHHHhh All my money!!!! Please read on...

So now your tune is out there being used, WITHOUT being registered....THIS is your MISTAKE and mine...don't get me wrong...there is a reason I am telling you this and it's not because I am trying to sell you something. I am trying to help you so we ALL can make a nice living off of our hobby, soon to be careers.

Listen, what if I told you that once your tune is broadcast on a national TV commercial or radio ad or something other form of HIGH-END broadcast, These companies already set aside money, HUGH SUMS OF MONEY....right...go on Nathan...Ok...so what happens when Producer Joe that bought your royalty-free music broadcasts on TV? Well...those companies MUST pay...you heard me MUST pay to use ANY and ALL content. So..You sold your "royalty-free tune" but alas! Once it is broadcast there is no such thing as "royalty-free", it hits tv and radio and guess what...CBS pays one of the PROs royalties even IF you are not registered....WHAT??? I know, I know...Where was this information yesterday?

Is anyone listening to me? If you are then your whole world just took the "EXIT to SUCCESS"...You can thank me later.

Why am I telling you this? Wouldn't it make sense to watch you all fail and keep this to myself..NO! Listen you need to start making some money. Lots of it. We the little guys are hurting our own market. Please, let us all start informing ourselves. There is a way to do this and it is not as hard as I once thought.

Royalty-free is perfect for your "amateur producers" (these guys don't know any of this either, by the way, well maybe some but then they wouldn't be amateurs.) looking to make money from a very LOW budget company. But once they "AIR" that production, the BROADCAST COMPANIES, pay with their HUGE SUMS OF MONEY...not Joe....They pay the PROs. And the PROs pay....YOU. What? You didn't register...oh...well, then guess what...the PROs KEEP YOUR MONEY!!!

Got this? Read this twice...Dream about this...let this sink in. This is going to change the way you view making music from now on.

If not...go ahead, make your non-PRO music, I know I have been making non-PRO music all along, but guess what. AS soon as I get my membership. BOOM all my songs are being registered and copyrighted and I am changing EVERY track on all those marketplaces that I have been so hard at work adding all my non-PRO music too. Who is with me?


Sincerely your friend and colleague,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com



P.S. Just to get you thinking in case you skipped my post,

Most commercials on TV: the background music. For say a one year license, might go for...75k to 250k (for INCREDIBLE artists of course) A YEAR! I am only talking for national markets in the US. The BROADCAST COMPANIES pay PROS this, not our good buddy JOE. UNDERSTAND? JOE doesn't make any of this money. Joe makes money by finding the right music, the right video and the right idea and the RIGHT CLIENT, and says I'll do that for X amount of dollars....Even if Joe used your music FOR FREE...all you need him to do is fill out a CUE SHEET (your favorite stockmedia marketplace and many others do this AUTOMATICALLY, for producers just like Joe) with you as the COMPOSER and PUBLISHER and, BAM! YOU CLAIM YOUR MONEY once it is on TV, radio, film..the list goes on.

A Film Intro, say 3.5 mins of music, might go for .... 350k to 500k. and the credits, well maybe 150k.

Last year I sold about 8 tunes. I am pretty happy. It made me invest a bunch of money into new studio equipment so I can make even better music this year. But this year I am going PRO, I am going to have my tunes on TV anyway, why not claim it! It's SO easy! Put some damn food on the table Go PRO! Let's do this already!

Hope your all having a good weekend.
 
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Man I can tell you right now, the members of this site aren't going to read all the way through this....well....I did....so I guess that statement is untrue.


I personally feel that MOST members will not read through this!

It's sad...the threads that are most active here are all about celebrities......they're about stupid pointless things...no one brainstorms on how to make money together or joint venture, or how to improve their self, or their music, or their music business...

I mean it's clear to see the marketing and legal sections of this site are pretty neglected compared to say the Rap/HipHop section which has a bunch of silly posts in it...

So if you read it, good on you. You'll go somewhere because you WANT to learn......

And as to OP...thank you. The time to write such a long and detailed article FOR FREE is not something that should be taken for granted! This is great advice. One of the first things I did was get with a PRO, BMI to be exact.

I don't think they charge for signup though do they? I don't remember paying.


Also, what stock music places are you speaking about? Are you saying that all the beats I sell on my website I should be somehow registering with my PRO?

Or are you talking about after I sell them to rappers I need to register them?

I'm with pump audio, and I think they handle all the licensing stuff as long as I put my BMI CAE # or whatever it is, correct? Do I need to worry about going and putting my individual songs in my PRO or something??
 
Thanks for asking this AG Beats,

At pumpaudio, if you read the Terms and Conditions, (which I did a month or so ago so this is from memory...) I believe it said they, rename your song, submit THAT song to the PROs with, YOU as writer and THEM as publisher. However, please re read their legal jargon, just to make sure. And that's exactly normal folks. No biggie, Publishers get 50%. That Business. However, you can be a publisher yourself. Which I will get into in this post, and also be on the look out for anyone that wants EXCLUSIVE rights to your music. If you do this correctly, you should be able to take the next year off. If not. You might buy a hamburger, and eat it on your bike while you ride home. Which is cool if your 16...but not so cool if you are 50. Thank god I am neither.

Now, as for other media marketplaces, their terms are all different. You MUST read it. MUST. <- MUST. I know I didn't read anything for about 8-10 months. I wish I did.

You have to register EACH song with your PRO. It should be the FIRST thing you do after you finish with mastering.

Make song -> Register with PRO -> Copyright in NEAR future -> Shop it till you drop. Don't sign ANYTHING exclusive. NOTHING. Unless you KNOW what you are doing.

Ok, I hope someone reads this. I have about 21 posts already wrote. I had them at a stock media marketplace's forum...and they DISABLED LINKS. Not sure if it was "me" but. All I did was write a post and try to make some people RICH. What's the harm in that.

Anyway. That is why I bring my post to all of you at Future Producers. Here is the next bit.

I don't like doing this, but if you want the nitty-gritty and cannot search for yourself on google, "What is royatly-free music" then here is a link to Wikipedia about music and royalties and such,

Production music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seriously, I want all non-PRO music producers...to truly take a look at what (myself included) we have been doing. Read the part about royalty-free music yet?

Do IT!

"These libraries (<-- THAT'S YOU!) depend mainly on performance royalties for their income (<-- WHAT YOU ARE LOSING!) with a small amount of income from sales of physical CDs or online track downloads. (<-- THIS IS your favorite stock media marketplace...)"

"Assuming that the music is broadcast, royalties are paid on the music, though it is the broadcaster, not the customer, who pays them via annual fees to the performing rights societies." <-- THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!

BE SURE TO READ THIS, DIGEST IT, and tomorrow when you tell someone you are a music composer...you'll know what you are talking about...ok? Please, for your Families sake. Don't be the guy that had his song heard during that awesome commercial and you made $2.50. Your time, effort and creativity are worth so much more and THEY WANT TO PAY YOU. It is your part to REGISTER.

Glad you approve now. Go PRO Go PRO! Go PRO!

There is enough money, for me, you and everyone else. And when you have all that money, PLEASE send me and my family some good vibes, some good wishes, after all, it is this post you are reading that is going to change it all for you.

It's 2013, it's time to go PRO.

By the way, once you are member of some PRO you have to REGISTER each song in your library with the PRO of your choice. Ok? EACH SONG you want to be credited to you. And you have to search up how to copyright you music. DO IT! NOW, TODAY!

IT's SO Freaking EASY! I copyrighted 3 CDS jammed with production music for $135.00 by myself, it is so simple. Fill out a stupid form, stick your cd inside and forget it. 6 months later you have you music completely and utterly copyright protected. Come on! You can do this, too! Don't be fooled into thinking that it's to hard or to much. Listen I have been self-employed for 10 years, and my friends, goto work for some other self-employed person. Do you know the difference? KNOWLEDGE. THIS IS SO EASY. They don't know "how to start a business" did you know it's so simple, you could DO IT TODAY?

And I don't know if any of you noticed but if your thinking. Nah, It won't be broadcasted. Non-sense.

And please someone with more knowledge then myself. POINT US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION! This is it folks. This is what all the creative efforts on your part has been. To make it and make it big. Well at least that's mine.

I really hope your non-PRO eyes have shifted a bit, listen, there are other places that LAUGH at us non-PROs. What are you going to tell Lexus? You make music for 20 bucks? COME ON! They will want to know what PRO your with and your going to look as foolish as I did yesterday. It's time to really understand how you, me and everyone else that is here can and could be making A LOT MORE MONEY.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com
 
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Ok even I am getting a better understanding of this and like I said I've BEEN with BMI haha....

The reason I got with BMI was to submit to pump audio....now I'm realizing if I just copyright and submit my own music to my PRO (without even relying on a rapper) I can shop it all by my self...I don't need pump to do this for me..


Let me clarify something.....I go to Company X....I say hey I got some beats that would be perfect behind your show/commercial/whatever.....You wanna use em? They listen, pick one...all I have to do is make sure the cue sheet is filled out, and then since they are COMPANY X and they PAID THE FEE THEY MUST PAY.....the cue sheet keeps track...BMI notices...I get paid?

I don't even have to charge the company? Just say look use my beats, fill the cuesheet, and I'll get mine after it airs?
 
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Dear Ag Beats,

You got it, just stay away from EXCLUSIVE deals. (Unless you know what you are doing or have a lawyer, best to have both) Pump Audio is non-exclusive so they have no problem with you putting your music else where. Your first goal, well mine, is to get past the libraries and use them how your suggesting in your other post. Bringing clients back to your website.

When an executive producer asks you to produce a song, you could, use one you already have, if they like it or make one from scratch, a work for hire. Either way you can, register your tracks now, and sell them, or sell them and then register, BUT that only works if you are NOT working with the stock media marketplaces. You'll want to register your songs with the PRO first thing. FIRST. Period. It's like putting your name on it, so they know where to send your royalty check.

In this case YOU are selling a license to your music. There are right ways to do this and I will be getting there in a bit. This is A HUGE, over looked first step that I see to many of my fellow musicians making. There has been a flux in independent artists lately. (If you haven't noticed). And most of us, have been misinformed by each other.

The first thing, register your music with your PRO. It's the easiest part of the process. If you can add your beats to 10 stock media marketplaces a day. Then you can add one more. Add first to your PRO. Then you always add your writer and publisher IPI or whatever you have to your descriptions and tell those producers your PRO Numbers. Here's mine,

Writer: Mr. Nathan Luis Steinke (IPI: 684075619)
Publisher: Nathan Luis Steinke Music (IPI: 700072501)
PRO: ASCAP

Ok so now when you get your music on a CUE SHEET that is Nationally Broadcasted <- this is important. You should see royalties trickle in, in about 6 months. If played overseas, maybe 2 years. And when I say trickle. I mean $800-$1000 per MINUTE of air time, EACH time it's BROADCASTED. (Keep in mind this is not included in the licensing fees)

IF you read this, and you hadn't known this. I wish you the best of luck to sleep tonight. Just think if you score that Children's Theme song! But you HAVE TO REGISTER. You have to have your song registered with a PRO.

There's more to come. Hold on to your pocket books, they are about to get fatter!

Take care everyone,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com
 
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Sorry OP but your post was a mess trying to read. Thanks for the information about PRO though, how about a link to some of this?
 
Dear Miikahh,

Thank you for reading this and I hope it helps, you are very welcome.

MindFusion,

No I do not have a LINK to this. (Thought about it. If you are here reading this and you are a non-PRO musician please come back, there is MORE.) Good luck my friend. I am writing this for people that need information. I am sorry for the layout of this post, as you can see I haven't been at Future Producers for very long time, rather posted HERE that often, so, the first couple I understand are a bit messy. (I'll see if I can edit them together a bit more. Thanks for the advice) Please, this is so important to the people that don't know. This was me, just a few months ago. There is a wider greater potential here. More to come. I have to sleep.

Goodnight Everyone,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com
 
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Very interesting. I already have some ideas from this. I can go down to a big advertising company around my way, and tell them I can work for hire.

Clear Channel, idk if that's anywhere but here. I think that's a big company though.

Anyway, instead of going in like a dumby-head (lol) and saying "yo i make beats whats good yall want some" I can go in and say hey, I'm a publisher and writer registered with BMI, I make modern style rap and hip hop beats, but I'm a versatile musician. Would you be at all interested in utilizing my services to get unique, high quality, MODERN SOUNDING (<--- thats a big issue to me with all these cheesy rap beat commercials lol) rap or hip hop beats?

Who knows.....they just might be like you know what we got an ad we're working on right now that needs some good music behind it and we've been stumped! Let's see what you got!


Any advice on how I might make that situation go better if I do decide to go in there? What else might they ask me that I might need to know? I should definitely do some homework on the company before trying to get an appointment with someone in there....

I guess I should probably call and ask who handles music selection?
 
Dear AG Beats,

Clear Channel, is like the biggest RADIO STATION in the business, besides Maverick Media. These companies OWN ALL the radio stations you listen too. I am sure there are smaller ones. But those are the biggest.

Right once your affiliated with a PRO, you will receive royalties once they BROADCAST IT. They will want your song title (make them unique and fun) and I have been adding "By Nathan Luis Steinke" at the end of each song title as an alternate. Once you get over to your PRO, you'll see what I am talking about. It's really easy to register a song, just READ EVERYTHING FIRST. Then read it again. And again. Seriously, your eyes get tired, you start skipping IMPORTANT information.

Right, you got this, keep in mind "these people" that pick your song are just that - PEOPLE! They like being treated like people. So, they have 500k songs to pick from...but that's not very personable. See what I am saying? You take your CD, cut with 45-60 second ads. All REGISTERED with a PRO, COPYRIGHTED (more on this in a bit) and bingo you are in BUSINESS.

Listen, I believe you are on the RIGHT track AG, you seem to be very quick at this. Get your song on a CUE SHEET, Broadcast on TV, FILM, RADIO. And in a few months your going to be beaming with joy and thanking me. Now the trick is. Getting on a cue sheet.

And before you go in with your CD, here are some thoughts.

FIRST, I as told that, if you provide .WAVs without TAGS, they DELETE THEM ALL! NO ONE cares about track number blah blah blah...delete.

Second, have a business card (if in person), and a PROFESSIONAL website (if virtual).

Third, You don't have to blow their ears out, Once they accept your song, they compress it and do all sorts of BROADCAST VOODOO on it. It really doesn't even have to be that good. Concentrate on, Funny and Corny, sh*t, BUSINESS's love whimsical and cute. Off beat, quirky. Also, TECHNO. And of course...Rock.

Remember this is BACKGROUND music for Broadcast Television and Radio. It's meant to be almost...un-noticeable.
Just make sure you DON'T CLIP your audio. You can always, customize and charge for that, if they have the budget. Be honest to them, to pump up a track and re mix takes 5 hours...and another day to Master. That's at least worth...$250.00? Or you could do it for free. But if they want to pay you, you'll look more professional with a fee. It's true.

Here's some FREE FOOD! Umm...no thanks. (well unless your hungry and you need food I guess).


Ok - WHAT TO EXPECT

You'll want to know what the difference between non-exclusive and exclusive, buy-outs, and sync fees are. Generally speaking, you and I probably will not make top dollar here, that's for platinum artists, take your pick. However you should be able to commission a license fee for about $500-$1,500.00 for non-exclusive use, per year. That's what our buddy JOE pays. So the PROs track this info just like they track your credit score.

You can change the terms however you like. For instance the terms for Royalty-Free are fairly limiting to Joe and in the fact of what Joe can do with the LICENSE. You see you are selling a License to USE your music. It's up to you to decide what to sell it for. Now if you head over to WE SELL YOUR BEATS FOR CHEAP . com well. Then you are selling a LICENSE to use your song. CHEAP. No biggie you just need to sell it A LOT!

Now, let's say they want EXCLUSIVE rights and you have your song on all those stock media marketplaces...well, you are all ready in a lot of "non-exclusive contracts" and it would be a BAD idea to sell an exclusive track to a client that you know you have non-exclusive deals on. So you could make them a NEW version (read that: exclusive) of your song. And sell them that. Generally speaking, you can times your LICENSE fee about 5x. Here. So, no one else can use you song except, "Company Y" and they pay you 5x for that privilege. So you could maybe talk $2,500, to $5,000 a year just to license you track, this has NOTHING to do with royalties. You could even shoot for 25k to 75k, but your client is going to have to be BIG TIME. Lexus, Microsoft, the NLF. You see the point.

Most people are cool with non-exclusive, because A. they save loads of cash and B. they know you have to shop your song to others. We have to eat!

If you find the right client, money should not be a factor and they should have a healthy budget for music. If not, it's ok, this is where you cut deals. Make that track for free, go low on the first offer. BREAK THE ICE. Just know a bit of what your talking about. Listen, they (executive producers), don't really make music, thats OUR job, so you have to learn to talk like them...

Gads. I have so much more to write. I am going to take a break and come back to this post later.

Thank you for your patience as I write this. It's really important if your NEW to the music business. Chances are, you like to make music and want to sell it, and been MOON blinked by stock media. Go PRO. It's what you need to do. First thing to success, otherwise the rest of what I am about to tell you doesn't matter.

Think about it folks, some PROs are even free to join. Shop around!


Take a break, grab some coffee, hit a cigarette, or whatever relaxes you, things are about to change my friends.


Sincerely,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com
 
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PROs are cool. I am registered as a songwriter and publisher. But I think some people are better off by not signing up with one. It involves a lot of knowledge and paperwork. Musicians just want to make music. Blanketing them with a bunch of technical and legal info just bores people.

Selling and licensing beats via Soundclick and other sites is a good thing. Not everyone wants to fill out forms online and wait months or years for royalty checks. It takes away time from making direct sells and generating short term revenue. Some guys are excellent at promoting, marketing, and selling their music without a PRO. That is nothing to look down on.

Everyone isn't going to benefit from a PRO. I recently learned that over 90% of musicians signed with a PRO have never made any royalties. Many that are signed with a PRO never make more than a few hundred dollars a year. But many musicians make thousands of dollars from selling their own music and/or doing live performances.

Think about what works best for YOU!
 
That's exactly my thought....they got all these damn songs to browse through like pump box, and whatever else is out there, so I may have a very big advantage going to my local clear channel branch and trying to talk face to face.

I'm gonna head over to BMI website and see what I can find out but maybe you can answer my question...


When I talk to whoever is in charge of music selection, what do I do lol....

So far I called my local branch and left a message. I said something like, "My name is Alex Gray, and I am calling to inquire about who is charge of selecting the music you put behind your ads or how that music is selected. You can reach me at bla bla bla"

Once I find out who/how they pick songs, I am going to request an appointment with that person. Should I say something like, "I'm a writer and publisher available on a work for hire basis, or I have a catalog that you can select from. I'd like to pop by and use five ten minutes of your time to discuss possibly working together in the future"

Then once I get in, I can have a CD or a flash drive of some of my best work or whatever...obviously...

I need to register everything on that CD with BMI before I go.

Then I can say something like look....I know that you have thousands on thousands of songs to pick from, but I believe that we could work on a more personable basis. I can provide you with modern sounding rap/hip hop instrumentals, however I am a versatile musician and can tackle a wide range of styles.

Then I guess it's up to them if they pick a track, I can start talking about the non exclusive license fee. I'm sure they probably have something set up for that already, but if they ask me what my fee/terms are I can say something on the fly.

Then since my songs are registered with my PRO, I can just say here's the title and my #'s, pay me my muthfuggin license fee and fill the cue sheet out and we're gravy!


Ok, I wouldn't really say the last part like that...but is that the basics? I'm gonna head over to BMI now and read more but is that any where near a solid plan?
 
Dear Desire Inspires,

Your right, not everyone needs to receive these royalties I understand, "How many BEATS do you need to sell to make 60k a year?" How many do you have sold already? And let me tell you one more thing the guys and gals that are making MONEY, do not believe 60k is MONEY. Ok. That's like an ok start. Get you by until you what? SELL MORE BEATS? Sure. Listen I am glad you are registered as a PRO. That's the first step, SO your good, now register each of your songs, copyright them (more of this in a bit) and get out there a promote the hell out of them.

Listen, just because you went over to the ASCAP or BMI and said, "HI, I made this song, please put my name on it." Doesn't mean you can't do everything you are doing on soundclick or whatever site you are fond of. This post is meant for people that, are to scared to go over and sign up with a PRO. I was one. I made a bunch of non-registered music last year, much of which I deleted.

Have you ever read any of those BORING legal statements? No? You should. Go over to soundclick and read it right now. Then come back here and tell everyone what you just learned. I am not on soundclick, and I will read it for myself once I get over there, I am sure they are like most of the others.

Your right, MUSICIANS want to make MUSIC. But since the invent of the "independent producer" your stuck playing a bunch of different fiddles. So you need to learn that LEGAL, isn't BORING, it's where the MONEY is. It's fun if you give it a second and EASY once your in. It's like jumping into a lake. ONE of us is going to DIVE in, the other TOE dip. Remember, the water is the same temperature for both of us.

It takes a SECOND to register your song with a PRO, before you do anything else. PAPERWORK? The stock media marketplaces AUTOMATICALLY send out CUE SHEETS. I mean seriously, it couldn't be any easier! But you have to follow the right path. And I have more information to come, so hang in there.

Again, I don't want anything from you, so if your waiting for the "pay me 5 dollars for my e-book"...Well YOUR READING IT!

However, for payment I want you to think kindly of me, my family and my success, send me WHITE light in your mind. When you think of me, smile and tell yourself, "Nathan, now there is a cool dude, doesn't even want my money. Wow. What's his angle?" <- stick around maybe I'll let it slip.

Listen, I am not saying these marketplaces are a bad thing, quite the opposite, CASH COWS, if you do this right, otherwise they are throwing pennies at you and you all are running around trying to pick them up.

Thanks for the comment, this is something each one of us must DO for OURSELVES! No one does this for you. No one cares. I don't. Stay non-PRO. No biggie to me. But for your families sake...THINK about your new BUSINESS.


Stay informed.


Dear AG Beats,

I think you have a great handle on what to do, YOU wrote it all in your previous post. You hold your head high, call your self a "music composer", not a "beat maker" and you walk out with a new client. Then next month, they call you and say, you know we need this piece and don't feel like digging through 500k of OLD + DATED music. Could you do it? And maybe you bump up your license fees or whatever. Skies the limit.

Now once they have your music, pay YOUR license fees, they place your music in a scene on TV for say 5 seconds. You will receive royalties, (even IF they bought this as royalty-free license) You will be paid via your PRO, because you registered your music and have your CUE SHEETS filled out (well they do this for you).

This is just the TIP of the ice berg, This is where to START...The beginning of your new career. You could sell beats, you are, you will continue. No biggie. But did you know IF your music is placed on TV, and you didn't register your song...Do you know what happens to your royalties?

The PROs get to KEEP IT! You heard me. The broadcast companies pay, per second, to the PROs. No matter if you are registered or not. THEY HAVE TO PAY, and they don't mind. It's your fault and mine for not making sure they know where the money goes. THAT's why they are there. TO PAY YOU!

There's more. But I need a break again. Thanks for the interest and the comments! This is BIG folks. THIS IS IT!


Take it easy until next time,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com
 
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I'm reading all the boring shit on BMI.com now lol. Trying to muggle through it.

Where can I find an example of what this almighty Cue sheet looks like? this might help me understand more.

Basically I just have to submit the song via online registration form on BMI, and since I made it and everything I can claim my 200% (100 for writers and composer, 100 for being the publisher)

Then, I go to who ever wants to use my music. Say Clear Channel....we work out a deal. They hear something they like and want to use it...they ask me the license fee...


I say, it's $150 to use the track, license is good for......say 1 year.

They pay me $150 right then and there, and they collect my information so they can properly fill out a cue sheet.

Im guessing the cue sheet includes my CAE #, the song title, and percentages, or something? I'm gonna go look up "cue sheet" and see what I can find.

---------- Post added at 08:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 PM ----------

Ok to update here, here's a perfect example that helped me wrap my mind around it: Google Image Result for http://www.billyhalemusic.com/sample_cue_sheet.jpg



Basically, all you have to do is register your music with your PRO....then when you license it to someone (sell them permission to use your track), they are required to fill out a cue sheet for whatever they are doing. In this cue sheet they put the title, the type of use, and the amount of time used. They specify who the publishers and composers are, and their affiliations (ASCAP, BMI, etc)....I guess at that point, your PRO will go over cue sheets, add up the total amount of time your stuff was used, figure out what they owe you...then pay you out!


Please do correct me if I am wrong, but I think that's the basics?
 
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The best way to learn about PROs and royalties is to get in the game and experiment. The only book I read was "All You Need To Know About The Music Business".

Everything else I learned from doing. I have music licensed in a bunch of TV shows. I have signed dozens of contracts with music libraries and publishers. I have hundreds of songs registered through my PRO. I earn royalties every quarter. It was easy for me to learn this stuff.

If anybody is serious about making money from music, they will learn. Those that are not serious will be okay.
 
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Desire Inspires said:
The best way to learn about PROs and royalties is to get in the game and experiment. The only book I read was "All You Need To Know About The Music Business". Everything else I learned from doing. I have music licensed in a bunch of TV shows. I have hundreds of songs registered through my PRO. It was easy for me to learn this stuff.

If anybody is serious about making money from music, they will learn.
Click to expand...

You know what's ****ed up? I've had that book sitting on my desktop for forever and I haven't read past a few chapters. I'm normally on my laptop though, so I'm gonna blame that as the reason and not me being lazy!! :P


Anyway, I am getting in and experimenting. I've sent two CD's off to Pump already, and I mean shit at least I'm even registered. I know you're credible Desire, I didn't forget our email convo. I saw your catalog haha.

I'm just trying to get info easier and faster than sitting and reading it my self. I gotta do what I gotta do but asking the questions and seeing who can answer cant hurt. If someone spends the time to provide me with a good answer, I just saved MY SELF some time lol....see what I'm saying...


But I feel you...when you sit and read and learn and study for hours and hours, it's easy to get pissed when someone just wants to post on a forum and get your answers. That's why I don't really hate on people who charge for knowledge easily compiled in to one place! It saves TIME...and time is the most precious thing we have.
 
Dear Future Producers, Desire Inspires and AG Beats,

Your right, Donald S. Passman's Book, "All You Need To Know About the Music Business." Is great, holy crap, I pick it up, open it and smile. What a source of info. He is funny too. Great read, study this one folks. This is what changed it for me. I paid $30 for my copy.

Now here is the next piece in my post,

Ok...Let's say we both made some gold widget worth 10k...and your widget was exactly like mine only mine said "NATHAN LUIS STEINKE"...yours says..."UNKNOWN". We sell our widgets to the same person who uses our widgets the exact same way but when it comes time to pay the proper fees (which are already in place), I am going to get my fees, because I said...HERE I AM! I made that widget! You say, I made a widget too, but, you didn't engrave your name on your widget. So the money that you would've received goes to the PROs, and the PROs go, ah well, another UNKNOWN!

Any stock media marketplace that is trying to stop you, convince you that registering your music with a PRO is a mistake, or otherwise not accepting PRO music is a scandal. Sure you can make MONEY, but...at what cost. Listen you should be thinking about this the other way around. You are paying up to 70% to these marketplaces to put your music in TV Commercials, that's why they are charging you 50% to 70% to license your music. Come on, your not going to say I MADE THAT? It is a rip off IF you have non-PRO music. THINK ABOUT IT! Please.

Does anyone reading this know what PRO means?

Listen the worse part is misinformation - sadly, due to the flux in independent artist, like myself, we don't have the understanding of the structure that is in place for us. That is why all the noise. We need to SAVE our industry. Do you want to make money selling music, say 10 years from now? If everyone sold their music for 1$ at some stock media place...WE are all F*cked.

You are WRITER/PUBLISHER unless you don't REGISTER as a publisher. What do you think PUBLISHER means? You compose music, then you PUBLISH it and then you add it to all those wonderful media marketplaces. You are all making a grave mistake, including myself, and I really have a hard time watching my fellow musicians go down a DARK and lonely road. I want to shed some light on this, just like I wanted someone to shed the light for me. But guess what.

Not one single stinking person in the entire universe said, Nathan you are a fool thinking that your wildest dreams are going to come true by selling your music at rock bottom prices. I, myself, as a non-PRO musician am ruining the music industry, and I want to stop and I want as many people to stop and think about what you are doing.

You get 50% for being the writer and 50% for being the publisher. That's 100% if you put me down as the publisher then I would get 50%. And this MEANS something when there is a PUBLISHER, ie someone you want to say thanks for publishing my work, here's 50%. Anyone putting your MARKETPLACE as the publisher STOP! STOP! STOP! Go back and change all your uploads.

YOU ARE COMPOSER. YOU ARE PUBLISHER.

BROADCAST COMPANIES pay -> PROs pay -> 50% to writer and 50% to publisher. YOU and YOU again. It's not as hard as it is scary to think...You went PRO..You can still sell you music as royalty-free, as long as you don't grant EXCLUSIVE rights to someone. And listen IF you grant exclusive rights...MAKE YOUR ROYALTIES!

I am not telling you this because I work for the PROs or any non-sense. I only wish, you and I, play the same game so we both can WIN BIG. Musicians reading this...we are not in competition with each other. Each SECOND is already bought and paid for. All I care about is, when I am being paid for my SECONDs...please don't sell it for a $1! OK?

The music business has been here, before many of you were born, this includes me, so it's our duty as members of this business to DO IT RIGHT and I believe with knowledge and little push, we all can achieve our wildest dreams. Otherwise My fingers and going to bleed with the amount of music I need to make in order to buy a candy bar.


Sincerely,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.S. Thank you for the link to those CUE SHEETS, that's the job of your client. To fill those out with their production. THEY HAVE TOO!
 
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Well BMI %'s add up to 200% lol.

And with PUMP I don't think you have a choice cause you even said that they "retitle the song and claim 50% as publisher" (in my case since my PRO is BMI, I believe I would get 100% as writer/composer, and pump gets 100% as publisher)

Are you saying we should all boycott pump audio and similar libraries and try and license our own music?
 
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Relax Nathan,

Those that want to succeed will succeed. Those that do not will go about their business. This is the Information Age. People aren't suffering from a lack of knowledge. They just don't give a damn.

How are you going to use your knowledge to help you?
 
Ok so i understand full this much.

I make a beat: I am the writer/composer/performer. Full % there in this situation.

Now, in pump audio situation PUMP is the publisher, because they are basically the middle man between me and whoever needs my music for whatever reason (sync license, etc etc)

So they get their % just for being "middle man"

The people that want to use the song pay a license fee up front, and also fee's to the PRO's. I think this is a set fee right?

In order to keep track, they gotta fill out cue sheets. Cue sheets state the writers and the publishers, their affiliation and %'s.

BMI goes over cue sheets, sends money quarterly.


Is that correct? Now, let's say that I happen to somehow find someone who needs music for a TV show or whatever.

I say look, I need a $100 non-exclusive license fee, and I need you to fill out a cue sheet giving me full % as writer AND publisher....

BMI checks cue's, sends money....


Is that right?
 
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