[Fmpro] Broadcast Mechanical Royalties

Tue Nov 28 18:03:42 GMT 2006

Hi Scott,

Good question[s].

Broadcast mechanicals have been discussed on this list for YEARS, but 
here's my 10c yet again.

I have always been of the opinion, IF a composer has a contract whereby 
mechanical income is part of that contract, then any 'sale' of the 
product should result in the composer sharing in the profits of that 
sale.
MOST CERTAINLY when shows/movies are SOLD overseas and/or into 
syndication.

If your contract does NOT say you are entitled, but you have rights to 
'mechanicals'..... go get your money.

BROADCAST MECHANICALS are NOT paid in the USA, but are paid in the EU 
[except the UK].
Had more folks on this list supported the AACO and attended the 
seminars they would have seen the EU PRO's spell out how 'we' LOSE 
hundreds of millions of dollars per annum.
[I have the videos somewhere]

The deal varies from country to country, but in a nutshell.

'YOU' the composer will have a contract with your publisher wherein you 
allow the publisher to act on your behalf overseas.
More often than not this will result in a massive loss of income to 
'you' since you are only entitled to 50%.... certainly in the 
'mechanicals' of the entire performance scheme, but this is a separate 
issue.

Assuming 'you' have agreed to maintain your mechanical income this 
would apply mostly to sync and blanket licenses generated overseas 
[hence my note above since the sale of a TV show/Movie etc is via a 
'license' even domestically ]. However many WW PRO's [unlike the US 
PRO's ] have a mechanical leg to their operation [e.g MCPS at the 
PRS-MCPS Alliance, GEMA is both perf. and mech. rights as are most EU 
PRO's...... Harry Fox in the USA will deal with download type income].

Do not confuse sync/blanket type mechanical income with the broadcast 
mechanical.... two VERY different animals.

It is the broadcaster 'performance' money collected by these overseas 
PRO's from whence the Broadcast Mechanical  [BM] comes from.
When paid by the broadcaster, the rule of thumb they apply is APPROX 
1/3  2/3.
1/3 for the mechanical part of the transmission* 2/3 for the 
transmission via airwaves.
The rule differs PRO to PRO in the EU

 >>SUB-PUBLISHERS CLAIMED THEY HAD THE RIGHT TO COLLECT THE BM DIRECT<<

Allegedly this claim was based on the contract between the publisher 
and sub-pub.... the one YOU never see !!

So, depending on the rule of the local PRO, approx 1/3 of the gross 
amount paid by the broadcaster to the PRO is siphoned off by the 
sub-publisher**.
You are entitled to your share of this money since it is part of the 
'broadcast', it has NOTHING to do with 'normal' sync/blanket licenses.

NO PRO statement will indicate you are entitled to this BM, nor will 
they indicate what the gross amount at source is since;
1	They may not know
2	The 1/3 is paid directly to the sub-pub and
3	the overseas PRO and the  sub-pub invariably do NOT send any 
publisher INCOME or info for performances etc 	to the US publisher via 
ASCAP/BMI/SESAC.
4	This means YOUR share of the BM either stays in the EU [which I'll 
bet it does if one is dealing with a 'larger' pub co]........ or the 
sub-pub does send 1/2 of the money to the pub, with no data.... imagine 
!!

No data.. who do they pay?

Bear in mind you would be entitled to 1/2 of the 1/3 gross at 
source...... NOT 1/2 of what the sub-pub sends to the 
publisher...........

If any composer is not being paid the BM from the EU they are possibly 
losing 1/3 of their gross due income.

Do the math........... no matter what you receive, it's worth a phone 
call.

I am aware of one composer in LA who went to see his 'larger' tv 
publisher after obtaining the info from the AACO seminar and walked 
away with a $00,000 sized check......... no questions asked...........  
you may wonder why the pub didn't question the amount !!

If you folks out there do or do not get the BM .... PLEASE tell 
all..... since my guess is the process by which the BM's are 'NOT' paid 
to us will also be the MO by which download type income will be skewed 
& skewered.

Les

*This based on old tech when a needle was inserted into a record groove 
which was a mechanical transaction until the 'signal' actually left the 
antennae to then be 'broadcast'.
This is an explanation in its most simple sense.

** This means your ASCAP/BMI/SESAC check is 'off' by at least 1/3 of 
gross at source.... think about this for a while ... in terms of why 
you don't see gross amounts !!

On Nov 28, 2006, at 8:02 AM, Scott Szabo wrote:

> Les,
>
> I want to make sure I understand what you are saying about Broadcast
> Mechanicals (I own a great deal of the music I produce). Example: are
> telling us that when Desilu Productions sells Star Trek (the original 
> series
> from the 60s) in syndication to TV Land, that the owner of the show 
> (Desilu
> or its designee) has to pay a mechanical royalty to the publisher (XYZ 
> Pub)
> of the music score every time it gets resold to different stations? 
> Then TV
> Land pays ASCAP or BMI a performance royalty for the broadcast? ASCAP 
> and
> BMI then pay the publisher and writer but Desilu only has to pay the
> publisher (copyright holder of the score)?
>
> If I understand this correctly, by what mechanism do you collect your
> broadcast mechanicals? Are you paid a percentage of the gross sale or a
> fixed rate per episode? By the minute of music? How do you handle the
> accounting with the Production companies that use your music? Is this
> something you handle personally or do you have a staff?
>
>
> Scott Szabo
> Szabo Sound & Music
> 2400 Central Parkway, Suite C
> Houston, TX 77092
> 713-956-7451
> www.szabosoundandmusic.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmpro-bounces+scott=szabosoundandmusic.com at nxport.com
> [mailto:fmpro-bounces+scott=szabosoundandmusic.com at nxport.com] On 
> Behalf Of
> Les Hurdle
> Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 8:46 AM
> To: fmpro at nxport.com
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] RIGHTS [again ;-( ] FMPRO Digest, Vol 19, Issue 26
>
> How many people on this list are paid Broadcast Mechanicals............
> last time i asked, not one reply !!
>
> How many are paid performers royalties.
>
> If you aren't, then either you don't qualify or you don't understand
> the business you are in.
>
> Which is it?
>
> L
>
> On Nov 27, 2006, at 7:45 PM, flight007 at aol.com wrote:
>
>> So do I !!  It's up to you to make sure it doesn't happen to you!
>>
>> Vic Flick
> How do you know your product has been downloaded?
> How do you know you should be paid?
>
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How do you know your product has been downloaded?
How do you know you should be paid?