|
If you are not already familiar with cue-sheets and public performance
rules, we recommend you take few minutes to read this page, because it's an
issue that's worth understanding for anybody involved in media production.
When you purchase a music track from us, you may use this music as much you
want, as many times as you want, for whatever product you want, without paying
any further fees to Shockwave-Sound.Com, ever. (Except mass
production and theatrical release).
However, when a broadcasting company (TV network, radio station, cinema, etc)
broadcasts a program, one of their duties is to fill in cue sheets.
These are pieces of paper with details of all the music used in the programme,
who composed the music, which royalty affiliation the composer(s) is a member
of, and how many minutes and seconds of each track is used. This is done by
broadcasting companies for each programme they transmit, and in fact, it is
illegal not to fill in proper cue sheets.
Here is a simple cue-sheet we have made in Excel format. You can
download it by right-clicking on the image below and selecting "Save target
as..". You can then fill it in and/or tweak it for your needs. If you need
help in filling out the cue-sheet, contact us and
we will help.
(Click on image to open cue-sheet in Excel)
You can also click here to download a .zip
file with the cue-sheet inside)
The purpose of these cue sheets is so that the composer can get his "performance
royalties" from money already paid by the broadcasting company as a set
monthly fee.
A broadcaster always pays a set monthly fee in performance royalties. No exceptions.
When they broadcast a programme, it doesn't matter where they got their music,
whether the composer is registered or not, whether the music is royalty-free
or not, or whether cue-sheets are filled in or not. The same monthly broadcasting
fee applies regardless of all this.
Cue-sheets only make a difference to the distribution of that fee. If cue sheets
are filled in and filed correctly, the correct composer gets
his share of this after it goes through the paper mill. If cue sheets are not
properly filled in, the fees are the same; it's just that it will then never
make it's way to the right composer. Instead, it goes in as a generic payment
into a "surplus", most of which is distributed to the most played
artists like Britney Spears, Sting, Phil Collins, etc, by some kind of percentage
split. No money is saved by not filling in cue sheets.
NO extra money is paid by anyone as a result of properly filling in cue sheets.
You may find some sources of royalty-free music that boast: "No ASCAP
fees!". This is a non-sense. There is no such thing. Broadcasting companies
pay the same monthly performance fee, regardless of whether they use music written
by a famous composer, or by a completely unknown who isn't even registered as
a composer.
The composer may of course opt out of his/her performance royalties, by saying
he doesn't want any, or by never joining a royalty affiliation. But the broadcasting
company still has to pay the same fees - which will then be distributed among
already high earning pop artists.
So, where does the production company come into it?
Because a broadcasting company often gets a finished programme made by a production
company, the broadcaster often doesn't know the details about the music used.
In this case, the duty to fill in correct cue sheets lies with the production
company. They must make sure that, along with the programme, the broadcasting
company gets either cue sheets already filled in and handed over with the programme
- or enough detailed information about the music used in the programme, and
it's composers, to enable them to fill in proper cue sheets.
But is it, or isn't it, "Royalty-Free"?
It may seem odd that "royalty free music" still has performance royalties
to be paid if the music is broadcast. But this is how it works, and you'll find
the same thing no matter where you should purchase royalty free music. The broadcasters
performance royalties are monthly fee which the broadcaster always pays for
their rights to broadcast music. Even if the composer/publisher insists that
he doesn't want any performance royalties, the broadcaster still
has to pay exactly the same fees. But the royalties will then go to the royalties
collection agency as a "generic" payment, as discussed above.
So why call it "royalty-free music"? Well, in regular "not royalty-free"
music, you would have to pay us a royalty for each time you used the music,
or for each month/year you had access to it. Our music is as royalty-free as
any music can ever get. There is no getting around the broadcasters performance
fee.
Performance royalties don't really have anything to do with Shockwave-Sound.Com.
Performance royalties aren't paid to Shockwave-Sound. They are paid from
the broadcaster, via the performance royalties collection agency,
to the composer. It has nothing to do with Shockwave-Sound,
other than us providing you with information about the composers of the music
you purchase.
Why are we so insistent on cue-sheets being filled in? Because we find it deeply
unfair if our composers' music is used in a broadcast, the performance royalties
for that music should end up with already high earning artists like Britney
Spears and Eminem. This is what happens if cue-sheets are not filled in and
filed correctly, or if the composer is not a member of a performance royalty
affiliation.
Here is a list of Performance Rights societies in various countries; they will
be happy to help you if you have further questions about Performance Royalties
and cue-sheets. We hope this article has been helpful.
Argentina SADAIC
Australia APRA
Austria AKM
Belgium SABAM
Brazil UBC, ECAD
Bulgaria Musicautor
Canada SOCAN
Chile SCD
Colombia SAYCO
Croatia HDS
Czech Republic OSA
Denmark KODA
England (See United Kingdom)
Estonia EAÜ
Finland TEOSTO
France SACEM
Germany GEMA
Greece AEPI
Hong Kong CASH
Hungary Artisjus
Iceland STEF
India IPRS
Ireland IMRO
Israel ACUM
Italy SIAE
Japan JASRAC
Lithuania LATGA-A
Malaysia MACP
Mexico SACM
Netherlands BUMA
New Zealand APRA
Norway TONO
Poland ZAIKS
Portugal SPA
Russia RAO
Singapore COMPASS
South Africa SAMRO
Spain SGAE
Sweden STIM
Switzerland SUISA
Trinidad & Tobago COTT
Turkey MESAM
United Kingdom PRS
Uruguay AGADU
USA ASCAP , BMI
, SESAC
|
