Performing Rights Organizations & Royalties – The Basics
by
IndieFlow Staff
What are performing rights organizations? How many are there in the United States? What are the type of royalties that performing rights organizations are responsible to collect and who can receive these royalties?
These questions do sound complicated however they can somewhat be simplified! Below is an overview of the key items to understand while registering with a performance rights organization.
Performing right organizations as suggested by their name collect a royalties called Performance Royalties and pay out these royalties to songwriters and publishers.
Each country in the world has a performance rights organization that is responsible for collecting royalties for songwriters and publishers . Any musical artist is eligible to receive performance royalties if you were the author (lyrics), the composer or a publisher of a work. In many cases independent artists are defacto all three!
Who are performing royalties collected from?
Performance royalties are collected from: streaming services, radio stations, TV stations, bars, venues, restaurants and more. Pretty much anytime a song is played in public the broadcaster of the song is legally obligated to report back to the PROs that the song was played and pay out a small portion for the right to play the song.
How can artists collect their royalties?
It’s pretty simple to register with a PRO and usually requires a one-time membership fee. PROs from all over the world work together in order to collect royalties from all of the different territories.
So if your song is registered with ASCAP and you have radio plays in Germany, GEMA (the German PRO would collect your royalties and transfer it to ASCAP). Just remember: PROs pay songwriters (authors and composers) not Artists who perform the song.
What performance rights organizations exist in the United States?
There are 3 main rights organizations in the US:
ASCAP – A non-profit organization managed by songwriters, composers and publishers. The board members and board of directors in ASCAP are elected by it’s society’s members. 750,000 members are registered as of 2020 and is one of the two dominating PROs in the US. You can join ASCAP both as a publisher and a songwriter for as little as $50 – one time membership.
BMI – Holds 800,000 members. Just like ASCAP, BMI is also a non-profit organization. You can join BMI for free as a songwriter but as a publisher it will cost you $150 or $250 if you’re registering as a company.
SESAC – The only for profit organization with 30,000 members. Not everyone can become a member of SESAC, you would need to receive an invitation.
Some important points to remember:
Always remember that performance royalties are broken out into money that is paid out to both the songwriter and the publisher. We would definitely recommend to open both a writer and publisher account on a PRO to collect the two.
Performance royalties are a completely different type of royalty then streaming royalties paid out to a distributor. It is important to remember that on top of streaming royalties that you receive from your distributor the streaming services ALSO pay performance royalties to PROs.
To benchmark the above point for you – the royalty amount paid out to a PRO amounts to something in the ballpark of 7% in addition to what the artist receives from the distributor. So if in a given month an artist received $1,000 from his/her distributor, they should expect another $70 to be paid out to him through the PROs.
An artist & publisher can only be affiliated with one PRO in each country & the publisher must be registered in the same PRO that the artist is. So in the case where a publisher, publishes a song on ASCAP but the artist is on BMI – ASCAP wll not be able to collect the royalties on the artist or publisher behalf.
Hope this helps in generally summarizing what performance rights organizations do and the royalties they collect on behalf of artists. Always remember that if you are an independent artist you most likely own both the artist and publisher rights and are able to collect both by registering with the organizations.
Please always keep in mind that in addition to performance royalties an independent artist is most likely entitled to receive other royalties from different organizations. More on this in our next articles!
That wasn’t THAT complicated, was it?
What are performing rights organizations? How many are there in the United States? What are the type of royalties that performing rights organizations are responsible to collect and who can receive these royalties?
These questions do sound complicated however they can somewhat be simplified! Below is an overview of the key items to understand while registering with a performance rights organization.
Performing right organizations as suggested by their name collect a royalties called Performance Royalties and pay out these royalties to songwriters and publishers.
Each country in the world has a performance rights organization that is responsible for collecting royalties for songwriters and publishers . Any musical artist is eligible to receive performance royalties if you were the author (lyrics), the composer or a publisher of a work. In many cases independent artists are defacto all three!
Who are performing royalties collected from?
Performance royalties are collected from: streaming services, radio stations, TV stations, bars, venues, restaurants and more. Pretty much anytime a song is played in public the broadcaster of the song is legally obligated to report back to the PROs that the song was played and pay out a small portion for the right to play the song.
How can artists collect their royalties?
It’s pretty simple to register with a PRO and usually requires a one-time membership fee. PROs from all over the world work together in order to collect royalties from all of the different territories.
So if your song is registered with ASCAP and you have radio plays in Germany, GEMA (the German PRO would collect your royalties and transfer it to ASCAP). Just remember: PROs pay songwriters (authors and composers) not Artists who perform the song.
What performance rights organizations exist in the United States?
There are 3 main rights organizations in the US:
ASCAP – A non-profit organization managed by songwriters, composers and publishers. The board members and board of directors in ASCAP are elected by it’s society’s members. 750,000 members are registered as of 2020 and is one of the two dominating PROs in the US. You can join ASCAP both as a publisher and a songwriter for as little as $50 – one time membership.
BMI – Holds 800,000 members. Just like ASCAP, BMI is also a non-profit organization. You can join BMI for free as a songwriter but as a publisher it will cost you $150 or $250 if you’re registering as a company.
SESAC – The only for profit organization with 30,000 members. Not everyone can become a member of SESAC, you would need to receive an invitation.
Some important points to remember:
Always remember that performance royalties are broken out into money that is paid out to both the songwriter and the publisher. We would definitely recommend to open both a writer and publisher account on a PRO to collect the two.
Performance royalties are a completely different type of royalty then streaming royalties paid out to a distributor. It is important to remember that on top of streaming royalties that you receive from your distributor the streaming services ALSO pay performance royalties to PROs.
To benchmark the above point for you – the royalty amount paid out to a PRO amounts to something in the ballpark of 7% in addition to what the artist receives from the distributor. So if in a given month an artist received $1,000 from his/her distributor, they should expect another $70 to be paid out to him through the PROs.
An artist & publisher can only be affiliated with one PRO in each country & the publisher must be registered in the same PRO that the artist is. So in the case where a publisher, publishes a song on ASCAP but the artist is on BMI – ASCAP wll not be able to collect the royalties on the artist or publisher behalf.
Hope this helps in generally summarizing what performance rights organizations do and the royalties they collect on behalf of artists. Always remember that if you are an independent artist you most likely own both the artist and publisher rights and are able to collect both by registering with the organizations.
Please always keep in mind that in addition to performance royalties an independent artist is most likely entitled to receive other royalties from different organizations. More on this in our next articles!
That wasn’t THAT complicated, was it?
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Social media is the ultimate source to leverage followers and keep them in the know. Staying consistent with post frequency, quality and engaging content is key to build and grow your audience. However, coming up with new posts over and over again can be daunting and stressful.
Most artists feel that the responsibility of creating engaging content on a regular basis and becoming a one-person production company does is not a skill they naturally have.
Things don’t necessarily have to be that complicated! Simplicity is key when it comes to social media, and as you probably noticed, there is not one secret sauce to make fans magically come running to your door. You will eventually find your authentic voice.
In the meantime, here are a few themes to help you step up your game:
The Making Of (Exposing Your Followers to the Creative Process)
The process of songwriting, producing, mixing and marketing is always intriguing!
Especially if you have some good footage, captures from the studio, other talents who participated in the process and so forth. Sharing your creative process to your audience and fans makes exposes the story behind the song and spotlights the building blocks, motives, ideas behind the song. This additional exposure to your audience deepens the connection between the creator and fans.
When creating Making Of content for social media make sure to save your videos, photography and behind the scenes footage for marketing material! Some ideas for useful Making Of content can be: videos of vocal recording sessions, raw takes of just you playing the song in a natural environment, sharing footage or the story of the inspiration behind the track.
Post a Lyric Video
Not every song needs to have a fully produced video clip.
There are literally hundreds of websites out there with royalty free videos like: pexels.com, pixabay.com where you can use a few cool atmospheric videos for your track.
Import the video into a movie editor software like i-Movie or Lightworks to add your lyrics. As a stand alone post it may not be the fastest post content you will create, but it could be an engaging, eye-capturing way for fans to interact with your music and also serve as content for your YouTube channel or other video outlets.
Share Nostalgic Styled or Throw Back Posts
Do you have any embarrassing moments from your childhood? A picture of you playing at your first concert? Post it!
People love seeing older photos of others. It’s not only a way to reveal another part of yourself or your background, but also can be a humoristic, nostalgic moment which is always easy to connect with.
Cover A Favorite Song or Artist
Cover songs have quite a few advantages. It really depends on how far you want to take this. Anywhere from simple guitar covers shot from your phone to a multi instrumental studio session.
Share a Playlists of Influential Music
Creating playlists and sharing with your fans is a cool giveaway as well as another nice way to create a deeper connection with your fans. People who appreciate the same artists have something in common.
Build Up Posts and Teasers of Upcoming Releases
Pretty much a no brainer. This comes naturally to most artists. You’re probably super excited about your next release, whether it is a song , an album, a video, a vinyl, new merch. Anything new is exciting! And anything new gives reasons to start a conversation.
Leverage this excitement and use it strategically by creating cool offers for early adopters. You can do a pre-save campaign for an upcoming track release, or start teasing with images of your new cool merch thats cooking, while creating discounted offers for whoever order in advance.
You don’t have to think transactional necessarily. This can be simple excitement about an announcement of a new gig date you closed. The point here is don’t just wait for the announcement of a new event. Build up towards the day of announcement and be generous with your fans.
Collaborations with Similar Artists
Do some research and find a few artists to collaborate with.
Collaborations on social media go way beyond just posting and the beautiful thing about it is that you’re expanding your music network – which is the number one thing you need to focus on if you’re building a music career.
There are endless ways to collaborate with musicians around you: You can produce a track with someone, do simple covers to each others songs, perform together, do a webinar on a mutual interest you both have and so much more.
Whats nice about music is that when it comes to fans, you’re not necessarily in competition. On the contrary, if a fan loves your music, and a collaborator makes music in the same genre or style the fan will be happy to discover the collaborator through you.
A collaborator’s strategy won’t only give you something to post about, it will help you grow and reach new fans.
BACKSTAGE WITH: EMILY KEATING | EMILY KEATING MUSIC on SPOTIFY | NEW YORK, NY
Main influences on making music?
When I was little Joni Mitchell felt like my musical mother. She sang what I dreamed of singing. She is a major influence on my music. Then in high school, my musical guru became Regina Spektor. I obsessively learned her songs like they were my own. Come college Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens became the first male artists to deeply influence my work.
My other main influences are Kate Bush, Carole King, Lady Gaga (mainly what she stands for), and Sylvan Esso. I know there are more, but these are the first to come out of my mouth and heart.
Most appreciated and innovating artists in the NY Music Scene?
NY music venues are the heartbeat of the city. A lot of the original venues from the 60’s and 70’s closed down, so the places that are still alive are very alive indeed. More than any artist I can name right now in the NY Music Scene. The music venues are the ones that are innovative in their consistency, their openness to explore different sounds, and they stand strong in their conviction that music is one of the answers.
What are your main challenges as a young, up and coming singer-songwriter?
It is truly hard to execute everything that needs to be done in one day / in one week/ in one month/ in one year.
From writing new music, keeping up my vocal and instrumental technique, maintaining an active engaging social media presence, playing shows and rehearsing with my band, networking events, promoting new releases, working on PR and marketing, there is A LOT to do in this beautiful career of music. I know it’s all about creating your team, which I’m finally starting to build with the right people. This helps immensely, as it is impossible to succeed doing this career alone. I will always be the captain on the ship but the ship only moves with a team on it. The challenge here is picking the right people for my team, knowing who to trust, and who will help me move forward to my dream.
The other key here is organization / making priorities and managing time well-which are big challenges.
When the pandemic hit NYC you retreated to upstate New York. How is your time spent in the Catskills?
My parents recently bought a very old farmhouse from the 1800’s in Parksville, New York. It is an enchanted piece of land, there is a lot of beauty here. I am very grateful and humbled to experience it.
I have spent a lot of time in the woods speaking and singing with the trees, and thanking the earth for being who she is and apologizing for what other people have done to her. From that headspace, I have written a few new songs in this seven week period that I’m really excited about with with producers from afar. I am currently writing my debut album with these producers.
Did you manage to record new material while in Parksville?
I have recorded all my new material by phone and have sent these files to my producers in NY and LA. One of my next steps in my list of priorities after my EP releases, is learning how to record vocals from where I am-I’m going back to the city to my apartment for two weeks so I plan to record there. This is NOT an easy task for me, as the engineering side of production does intimidate me. But I know this is the very reason I have to do it, to grow in this area of my work. Besides, this is the only way my producers can move forward in the songs we are creating for my record No Drama Club.
My guitarist, drummer and co-songwriters have recorded from their homes and have sent their recordings to my different producers. I am SO grateful I have them on my team, and that the producers I’m working with are creating such musical beauty from where they are remotely. It’s interesting because my idea for my debut record was to always have many different producers from across the country contribute. Now this is happening outside of my control – It is fascinating this was my vision from the start.
How are you technically managing music collaboration & work during CoVid 19 times?
Frequent communication and check-ins have been key to moving my songs forward in this time. Even if I reach out to say I cannot focus on this song until my EP is released this week, I do so and it feels balanced this way. I only had one producer tell me that he couldn’t resume our production of our song untill we were back in person in the studio. I respect his decision because we all create differently and each song has a different need and story. Another producer I was working with completely dropped the ball on our song and communication because of his own mental health faltering in this time-I have complete empathy for him and understanding. But it was very challenging to have to start completely from scratch from afar. On this particular song I’m working with a very talented co-writer-Without the producers stems we had to look for a brand new producer on a song that was already written. But when I take a big breath I see that everything that’s happened is leading us to how the song is supposed to exist. But, yes, for a song to thrive in this time, all parties need to be in good communication.
There is also an amazing creativity and synergy that has happened working with my producers and collaborators from afar. By working in our own spaces, there’s an intimacy and space that is born in the music that wouldn’t have been found in real time in the studio-with the ticking of the clock.
Something I’ve learned with my song writing and collaborations in this time is that if I give the songs more space to breathe (ie. not forcing a melody if it’s not working and taking a few days to let it build) a power is born within the music that I never want to loose from my songwriting now, There is something to say about deadlines and moving quickly-genius is born there.
Have the last months proven to be in anyway inspirational for you as an artist?
YES. Nature has again become my biggest motivator and inspiration. Looking within and having more time on my own has been a catalyst for new work too. And facing the most challenging relationships of your life, your family (with love) has let a lot of creativity enter my body mind and spirit. I’ve learned the lesson of patience again with songwriting, the daily work it takes on a song to master it, and the beauty of listening to what you can’t see might be where all the answers are.
I’ve started to meditate again every morning, and because of that I have been able to create words and melodies I might have not otherwise made.
What is your next music project? What excites you most about it?
My debut album No Drama Club. I’m currently writing each song with different producers in NY and LA. It is me, but it has an evolved sound from my first EP HEART made in 2018. This EP of mine is FINALLY releasing this week-That is very very exciting. Writing my first long record is exciting in a way I can’t put into words yet-All I know is it’s challenging me and making me put my best self forward. That’s all I will write about it now 🙂
Which venue are you waiting to perform at? Why?
The venue I’m waiting to perform at is any stage I can get on next. I’m not picky as long as I have an audience, my band and my voice. I love performing more than anything. It’s truly a remarkable feeling at home in a place that’s sacred. The stage is as sacred as a temple or church. I know performance is also the best rehearsal I can ever have. You give it your all (hopefully) and then you can see yourself clearly, and where you can improve. I can’t wait to do my first tour. Right now my venue is the screen-performing on live streams and that’s wonderful in a weird, new way. I’m eager to learn more with my band again, to make as cohesive as a sound we can make.
My dream venues? Red Rocks, The Beacon Theatre, and Radio City Music Hall.
Recommendations for up and coming artists to take and treat their art as a business?
Stay organized in the way that works for you. Don’t give up on finding that way until you master it. Speak up-always. To people you’re working with and to the world. Don’t take your music so seriously that you’re intimated to make new songs. Try to get back to the place when you wrote songs for fun, for the pleasure of it. Try to get to know someone well before signing any contract, or even having them work with you on your team. But be very open that’s the only way they’ll come. Know you deserve the best team and people supporting your career and don’t settle for less. Always stay excited even when all you’re doing is the business side of your career for a few days-because this is even a privilege to do. You’re pursuing your dream and there should be a lot of gratitude in that. If you’re not naturally business or technically savvy do not ever give up on becoming it. You are capable of learning anything you focus and put time into. Know that comparison is the devil-It only defeats you does nothing else. Know that you are unique and your music has a purpose no matter how daunting or competitive the industry might seem. Don’t let lack of funds stop you from making your art and marketing it-If you show up for your creativity/otherwise yourself, the world will conspire to help you-including finding the funds.
Don’t be as hard on yourself as I am, but still expect only greatness from yourself.
Who are your favorite collaborators & people you just love to work with?
I love to work with my band and my four amazing players, a songwriter i’m working with right now Jeff Franzel, and producers Nico Phillip, Eric Sanderson, Fran Cathcart, Bob Cutarella, Byrn Bliska, Itamar-Gov-Ari. There are many more but those are the first people that come to my mind. Thank you!
BACKSTAGE WITH: ATELLER | ATELLER MUSIC on Spotify | New York, NY
Main influences on making music?
Ateller: O Mer, Flying Lotus, James Blake, Radiohead, Fallen Atom, Zeppelin, Bon Iver, Kendrick, Anderson Paak, Chris Dave, my friends
Challenges in music production?
Ateller: Sit your ass down and work 🙂
Challenges in being a musician in 2020?
Ateller: Oooof — I don’t know where to start! I would say that the biggest challenge is the need to master many things that aren’t music – social media, marketing, fashion, brand, business. I don’t think we were prepared for it and whereas we’ve probably spent our 10,000 hours on music, we certainly haven’t on the other stuff. That creates a gap between talented profound musicians and their potential audience, because we simply don’t really know how to reach them.
Best ways new artists can reach an audience?
Ateller: Funny to finish my last answer and the read this question. Well – I just don’t know!
What is the most exciting aspect of launching your new album?
AT: This one had the strongest impact on me so far. Many people have been reaching out, writing long thoughtful messages about how the album touched them from all over the world. It’s kind of a mind fuck that something I did completely alone now belongs to other people and they have their private relationship with it.
Best ways to book gigs in 2020? What are your favorite venues and why?
AT: Well — I still book my gigs based on personal connections and just writing emails. I’m not sure that’s the best way. I really like to play at Baby’s All Right where I have a show at Feb 26, if you’re in NYC — come!
How and when did you start realizing that you can support yourself financially with music?
AT: I’ve been only doing music for roughly 3 years now and it’s truly the best feeling in the world. To me it’s mixing several worlds that create a somewhat consistent income – producing myself and other artists, playing drums and touring with other artists, and DJing. I think you need to have more than 1 expertise these days and be very flexible and adaptable in order to survive today, in all professions really.
What are your recommendations for up and coming artists who would like to take and treat their art as a business?
AT: My main advice (to myself included) would be to constantly release music. You can only benefit from dropping music to the world. You engage with the enviroment in a real way and learn and grow that way, whereas sitting on music, trying to perfect it for years and never releasing it gives you nothing and creates unnecessary loops in your head.
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