General Music Chat

BMI is free (as a songwriter/performer) to join. Will any of them actually ever pay you royalties - very unlikely.

I did research, a few years back.
I decide to go with BMI, but - sorry, I don't recall why.
:/
(use old guys are forgetful)

Actually a sax player acquaintance periodically DOES receive royalties. He's an indie recording artist.

The PROs pay royalties to the songwriters and publishers based on radio/live plays. What kind of royalties is this guy getting? Maybe be from streaming services like Spotify/Pandora?

Actually his instrumental tracks were used as a backing track for an instructional video for a corporation. He received a check over $1000.

Then it was mechanical royalties owed to the publisher


The only way BMI would have paid that kind of royalties would be if that video played on prime time TV on one of the major networks....or got heavy radio rotation in several major markets. PROs only collect broadcasts on broadcast media.

There have arisen several other ways of collecting royalties in the digital age. They wouldn't collect for Spotify/YouTube/Pandora because those are digital streams, not the same as a broadcast.

I have experimented with a few of them


There is Tunecore, CDBaby Pro, Symphonic to collect on sales through digital stores

AdRev is YouTube's version of collecting advertising revenue that is placed on your music when it's used on a youtube video

Then there is Sound Exchange for performance royalties on digital video.

And my favorite now Audiam, who finds your music being used by others on YouTube and puts an ad on it. They also distribute an unlimited amount of your music to the various digital distributors for a flat fee per year, whereas Tunecore/CDBaby/Symphonic charge per product (single, album) per year

Believe or not those are all doing different kinds of royalties in the streaming age.



You should still sign up with a PRO just in case something starts getting broadcast...I'd say BMI in your case because it's free for the songwriter.

One of the things I'm doing is looking at the famous arists on each. I think I'm ruling SESAC out because you have to submit your CD to them for them to review. I don't think they are interested in Indie guys like me.

They specialize in classical music and opera.

SESAC hss other genres as well.

yes, but the bulk of their members are classical music because that used to be 98% of movie/tv soundtracks, and because the length of classical pieces makes it pay on a different scale than your average 3 minute pop song.

I joined BMI before I released my first album because I it was free for songwriters. I noticed every CD had BMi or ASCAP caredits on it, so it could only make mine look more 'professional' (HA!)
Never expected to see any royalty money - afterall, everyone knows that only 10% of the songwriters every see any real money from their songs being played.
Anyway ... in the mail last week comes a tax form from BMI - looks like they paid me a total of $68 last year (for song plays in 2013), so its worth it to enter all your original song plays on thier web site afterall!

I have been a member of ASCAP for several years. I think it is a good company but if I remember it did cost like $35 or so but it buys you a lifetime membership. When I was doing research I read that ASCAP was more for the musician and was started by musicians where BMI is more for the radio stations, television stations etc. I don't really know how much of that is true though, honestly it is probably just your personal choice.