I think it is time we were provided with information from purchasers who buy broadcast licenses. Please would Envato consider a system whereby buyers have to complete a section which explains where what and how they intend to broadcast etc before they are able to download a track.
I belong to the PRS, the UK’s PRO, and currently when I type in Audiojungle there are 253 unclaimed pots of royalties. Some of these range from £100-£1000
This example below is a production company who have confused the ‘royalty free’ moniker we have and thing that means no broadcast royalties are payable.
Can we please clarify this and also ensure that those buyers who purchase music for broadcast provide the necessary information as already requested by @SteelSound
The next one is also a good example of incorrect labelling of cues. With no identifying information whatsoever. We are entitled to this money and we need help to ensure we receive it.
This is the last one I will post but I searched on Audio Jungle on the PRS site and it produces even more unpaid cues. This one is worth from £1000 and above, as there are 4 £ signs
I did (I’m with BMI). I don’t know if I get payed out the royalties before that period, but now with Soundmouse, this hopefully shouldn’t be a problem anymore.
I have tried to write to the PRS so many times to see if they could give me a login to do some research but they only allow members to search their database. Flossie, I will PM you in a moment. Hoping you can look up some stuff for me. I have lots of ideas swirling around my head as to how we, the authors, can just take this PRO royalty collection scenario into our own hands and divise a system where we all help each other out. For starters, Envato is employing several reviewers all of whom are members of PRO’s and some have the experience to know what’s up, others, based on their comments may not know much. Envato must change the way they sell broadcast licenses. Please, at a minimum obtain the data by coding into the site a brief Q/A for when broadcast licenses are purchased:
Please provide the name and e-mail of requestor
Is this for a TV show, a Promo, A Trailer, or a TV Spot
-if a TV show, then say “here is the name of the writer and publisher, their PRO, and their IPI number, it is required that you fill in these details on a cue sheet.”
If they answer Promo, TV Spot, or Trailer…then they shall answer the questions below:
What is the name of your company (Ad agency, Production Company, Post House)
Who is the client, Product, or brand you are licensing this music for?
What will be the first air date?
What country will this air in?
Enavto must act now, not later because people actually think Envato is the publisher based on what I am seeing from Flossie’s post!!! This is getting to be so ridiculous and unethical.
Interested Party: Audio Jungle!!! WTF??? We all saw this coming and higher end custmers seem to keep coming here. ENVATO please enact some emergency changes soon. Consult with your reviewers who know how to deal with these issues. Call me. I can help…really.
We’re sitting here point blank, telling you how to correct this problem yet you just continue to ignore our desperate cry outs. Just gather the data needed on the broadcast licenses for goodness sakes. Every music licensing site/ business in the world asks these questions for broadcast usage. This is just a “normal” course of doing business. Now PRO’s like the PRS think you are publisher, how pathetic.
What a mess!
Tim, PZ…please make some phone calls. They will listen to you guys. I know you want to collect your royalties.
Today I got my royalty statement for Q2 of 2019 aaaaand drumroll plz… with audiojungle royalties this time!
While I can’t claim those placements directly (I’m not with PRS), I submitted all the information I could collect to my PRO a year ago. I tought about switching to PRS this very next week, but something said to me I should wait. Turned out to be the right decision!
Guys, I can only encourage you to put all information on your placements together, join TuneSat for verification and send those in a respectful tone to your PRO.
Big thanks to all of you who are participating in this forum and on this matter!
I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, but I’ve never got any royalties from tracks sold here on AJ. Despite the fact that I’ve sold some Broadcast Licenses (I think around 100 for last two years). Tunesat have found one (1!) broadcast use, wich is clearly not my track, so it’s a mistake or a bug.
Can you share the source of the performance royalties?
What country Paid? For what type of project? TV Show? TV Spot? and how do you suspect the paperwork was handled? Did the client responsibly add your tracks to cue sheets? Or was it all your effort with the Tunesat reports and filing claims with BMI?
To answer your question Theo_Sound you are correctly displaying your PRO affiliation on your tracks. Just because you have not been paid performance royalties, this does not mean you are doing something wrong. I’d say that 95% of all licenses sold here never get beyond YOUTUBE videos. So 95 out of 100 times you will not get performance royalties anyway. However, when music does go on TV we all are very reliant on client cooperation and professionalism. They need to file cue sheets with our names credited and our track titles credited. Those titles must be registered at BMI (for example).
We, unfortunately, have to use detection services too (Like Tunesat,) to monitor airings on TV.
Below is a snippet of what those detections look like and they also allow me to download a clip as further proof of the airing/ performance
Duration
Date/Time
Channel
Show
Episode
Usage ▿expanded edit
File Path
0:18
01/18/20 11:44:51 PM
GAC
Flea Market Flip
Law Men and Their Ladies (#1214)
—: No description
Cheer Happy Song.wav
0:08
01/18/20 11:11:17 PM
GAC
Flea Market Flip
Design School Smackdown! (#1213)
—: No description
Cheer Happy Song.wav
0:08
01/17/20 05:46:35 PM
CNN
The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer
#1700
—: No description
Epic Cinematic Sports Fanfare.wav
0:12
01/17/20 02:40:58 PM
BET
black-ish
Black Nanny (#BLCK042)
—: No description
Epic Cinematic Sports Fanfare.wav
0:19
01/17/20 01:46:52 PM
WGN America
In the Heat of the Night
The Pigwoman of Sparta (#8821)
—: No description
Epic Cinematic Sports Fanfare.wav
Now, I will be nice and educate all what this data means: Cheer Happy Song (what an amazing poetic title by the way!) is airing as a background instrumental cue on that particular show “flea market flip”. The other tune, I see is airing on a few different networks, so that signals to me that this is being used as a background track on a TV commercial. I can then take this data and the clip and file a claim at my PRO. If the detections come from Europe, Asia, or Australia, or Latin America. I still report the performances to my PRO and then it is their job to communicate with the foreign societies to collect the royalties on my behalf through the reciprocal agreements.
Now the bad news: we all probably get screwed out of 50% of broadcast airings, and envato simply does not care about any of this because they have no skin in the game and just want that cash register going cha ching, as often as possible. Some music producers chose not to even join a PRO which is absolute insanity by the way, and they get nothing ever. Chosoing to not join a PRO has to be one of the dumbest strategies a professional composer can make. There is absolutely no upside nor any competitive advantage whatsoever to embracing “NO PRO”. By going NO PRO, all you do is leave money on the table. Those unclaimed royalties just ultimately get distributed to those who are PRO registered.
It was a TV advert, running on almost all networks in the UK. I assume they didn’t fill out the cue sheet properly. I guess it was my efforts to contact my PRO with all the information I could. I also send them a lot of other placements, but time will tell if the money will find a way into my next statements. They couldn’t however do anything about a plecement in a documentary, because they would’ve needed the cue sheet information. I guess if they broadcasters can’t fill out the cue sheet in the first place, then it’ll be way harder to get TV-Show royalties.
TV Adverts typically do not have cue sheets filed, but rather this claim at BMI needs to be filed:
Then BMI has to contact PRS in the UK and through the reciprocal agreements, PRS sent the royalties to BMI who in turn paid you. Did you fill out this form above yourself?
I’m sure there are different approaches at all the pros, but the bottom line is whether it is a cue sheet or an ad and promo claim sheet, they both serve the same purpose which is to document the title of the song, the publisher, the writers name, IPI # s, title of ad or name of show and episode, etc. Length of use in the show or spot or film. Cues sheets and ad and promo claims basically serve the same purpose which is to “claim” that the “broadcast performance” is your track, and therefore you, the writer and publisher are entitled to the “performance royalties.”
