Hi, after reaching out to the TV station about using my music without the appropriate license, I received a response saying they cannot afford both the license and paying royalties to the PRO:
"We really objected to having to pay royalties through P.R.O (WAMI) and at the same time we have to buy a appropriate license that complies with broadcast standards. We don’t have budget for both things at the same time.
Actually we feel comfortable if the way to solve this problem is only by purchasing the proper license (Music Broadcast 1 Million) according to the previous email."
I’ll probably let them purchase just the license because what can I do? What are your experiences with chasing TVs? Smells like bs to me but better anything but nothing.
Sounds weird… TV stations do not choose to pay royalties or not. It’s not something they can opt out of. They usually pay a blanket fee, which is set in advance and does not change whether your music is aired or not.
It doesn’t sound like they know what they are talking about. Who did you contact? The TV station or the production company? If it’s the latter you can let them know that they are not responsible to pay those royalties, the broadcaster (TV channel) is.
Also, you talk about a “major TV station” and then about a Music Broadcast 1 Million license. Are you sure this is the appropriate license? A 1 million license would be good for a hyper localized channel. Most major TV channels would require the Music Broadcast and Film license or for smaller countries, the 10 million license.
The way I read it is that they do pay PRO but objected at first
I think a TV station is not supposed to pay you a license, only the producer of the particular program they aired.
Yeah, this definitely sounds fishy… Major TV stations should know the ropes when it comes to licenses and royalties. It’s true, as PurpleFog pointed out, they usually work with a blanket royalty fee. I’d double-check who you’re dealing with (station vs. production company) and confirm if the license type matches their broadcast scale. But hey, if they’re already leaning towards getting the Music Broadcast 1 Million license, that’s a win, right? Better to have something than nothing, even if it feels a bit off!
In that case, I really object to having to pay for TV entertainment. Does that mean I can have free cable TV? I don’t have budget for a fee every month.
Actually, I feel comfortable if the way to solve this problem is by only purchasing the first month’s fee.
I can only guess what the response to that would be…