[Fmpro] FMPRO Digest, Vol 39, Issue 3

[David Tkaczuk]

Hi Sean :

After the many posts regarding ASCAP, foreign PRO's, dubious
collection methods, chasing CUE sheets woth PRO's etc...I have
to admit that I am now worried about whether I have covered myself
correctly in terms of registering my works.

Once and for all, can someone verify the correct and thorough procedure
a composer must take after a composition is completed and then pushed
forth into the world of music libraries/film tv usage etc... ?

Copyright-Candian/U.S. ?
Registering your works with your PRO - SOCAN ?
What about library  re-titling - only when they are licenced or not ?
anything else ?

Thanks Sean for your thorough post below.
Dave
D&D Music
SOCAN

Sean Goble wrote:

> Hi Les,
>
>  I have to respectfully disagree with some of your observations regarding
> SOCAN and PROs.  While yes, it could be argued that you may receive
> royalties faster as in quarterly instead of the once or twice a year we
> receive our royalty payments from foreign PROs, the accuracy and fee
> structure you're describing doesn't apply to SOCAN.  While most PROs do
> "double dip" your foreign earnings (ie. PRS collects, charges a fee, ASCAP
> distributes, charges a fee) SOCAN is one of a few, if not the only PRO
> that DOES NOT charge for foreign distribution.  Our operating fees are
> strictly from radio earnings.  So you are only getting hit with fees from
> the foreign society, not domestic if you are a SOCAN member.
>
> As far as accuracy goes, there may be some confusion as to how the systems
> work.  We submit our cuesheets into a database that is accessed by all
> other PROs to create foreign payments.  Unfortunately, at this point, some
> of the PROs may stumble in matching cuesheet to performance.  However,
> there is a back-up in that every quarter we receive unidentified
> performance lists from foreign PROs that we actually go through and spot
> check for shows that cue sheets have been submitted to us and we match
> them up, sending the reports back to the PRO and claiming the lost income
> on behalf of our member.
>
> There are a couple pitfalls of many PROs that prevent you from getting
> earnings from your performances.  One is simply staffing.  Many smaller
> PROs just don't have the staff to process and record every performance in
> their country.  I know of at least one PROs that is three people and a
> computer, pretty much there simply as a symbolic gesture towards
> copyright.  Another is the reporting. While in the larger PROs we receive
> 24/7 programming information for TV and use computer fingerprinting for
> radio performances, smaller PROs work on what is called a "survey".  We
> still use this method for smaller stations as well.  This is where they
> take a sample quarterly, or sometimes even biannually and use that as
> their templates for payment.  This is really good news if you land in the
> sample, not so good if you hit the week after the sample.
>
> It should also be mentioned that legally you can't belong to more than one
> PRO at a time, only publishers can have multiple accounts, and more often
> than not having a PRO based in your home country (or within a reasonable
> distance) gives you a base that you can visit if you have questions as
> well as various perks that are provided by PROs such as mixers, magazines,
> contacts etc.
>
>  I can't speak on behalf of every PRO out there, but I know that SOCAN is
> designed as a member focussed organization and if you ever have any
> questions, need advice or think that you may not be getting paid for a
> performance, we do all we can to track down that performance or give you
> an answer.  We keep a toll-free line for any inquiries by any of our
> members.
>
> I hope this helps.  If you have any questions, go ahead and post them and
> I'll try to answer as much as I can.
>
> Cheers,
> -Sean Goble
> Membership, SOCAN
>
> To: fmpro at nxport.com
> Message-ID: <22E31861-1496-4091-BD8A-14D0F2AC803B at avradionet.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> Hi Josh,
>
> Please excuse the cut n paste [c n p] below].......
>
> Where do you have product, where do you expect to have product around
> the planet?
>
> Please remember  PRO's receive, they do not collect outside their own
> domestic patch.
>
> On Jul 2, 2008, at 8:50 AM, Josh Silver wrote:
>
> > This is a pretty interesting conversation and has raised some
> > curiosity on my part about using foreign PRO's to collect foreign
> > royalties for me.
> >
> > I was until recently under the impression that the main reason to use
> > a foreign PRO for foreign collections was to receive foreign royalties
> > much faster than if I went through my domestic PRO (SOCAN) to collect
> > my foreign royalties.  Now after reading the recent fmpro emails on
> > this topic I am a little confused because I have been reading that
> > using SACEM or GEMA for example to represent a composer for the
> > territory of Europe would not only collect royalties faster, but also
> > more accurately than my domestic PRO???  Am I understanding this
> > correctly?
>
> Yes you are !!!!!!!!!!!
> >
> > Previously I have decided against using a foreign PRO for this purpose
> > because I was under the impression that the only real benefit was
> > quicker royalty payments for international broadcasts.  So since the
> > foreign PRO would end up getting a percentage of my royalties in
> > exchange for the collections I decided not to do it since I don't mind
> > waiting longer for the royalty payments.
>
> They get the % at this time anyway, then you pay extra for SOCAN to
> admin the income.......... go direct !
> >
> > Now this topic has been opened up again for me as I did not know that
> > using SACEM or GEMA would actually increase the accuracy of the
> > European collections, I am considering going with SACEM or GEMA as my
> > European reps.
>
> You may be entitled to a pension if you sign up with GEMA and/or
> SACEM............ seriously........... join them all, get the
> benefits for all.
>
> e.g.  Join SACEM for all French speaking markets,  SGAE for Spanish
> speaking markets,   PRS for the UK etc etc
>
> I wish I had done so decades ago, but in those days PRS frowned on
> any 'move'.......... ok for publishers though ;-)
>
> I joined ASCAP for the USA and it caused immense concern at
> PRS.............. equally my ASCAP publishing company had my
> 'writers' product on air in the UK......... this was interesting, I
> was paid my writers share by PRS but not the publishing by
> ASCAP...............  until one compared statements [for and to
> them]......... then my publishing co and the money was 'found' ...
> clerical error !
>
> Always have the means to cross check, it pays dividends, but really
> upsets staff.
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