Scored a feature film. Having trouble getting the production company to submit the cue sheet.
Tried to submit myself but they want it to come from the company. Anyone ever submitted the sheet yourself and how if so?
And trouble getting response/help from ASCAP.
Anyone have any success getting this done?
Thanks for any additional info! - Mark
Can't help with ASCAP specifically I'm afraid (it's PRS the other side of the Atlantic), but have had similar issues with submitting cue sheets for some features I have on Amazon Prime. Persistence and a lot of emails have helped a bit, but it's a difficult battle.
Is it for a film available on VOD, or in cinemas? Joel and I have had some lengthy conversations about how PROs don't collect royalties on VOD films with less than X number of views unless you happen to get in their random sample which is really frustrating (Joel, was it ASCAP or BMI you were talking to about this?)
It's on Amazon and for sale via DVD (Don't think I am owed anything for DVD just the streaming... and YouTube trailer streaming. "Virgin Cheerleaders In Chains" - Darkside Releasing is the distributor. Just saw it's under another company - risingsunmedia Hmm not sure about that I 'll have to check with the distributor to find out if they sold or affiliated and of course also just found a prated version online on YouTube.... sigh...
Here's a trailer (I wrote and performed the theme song - the score is more a cross of Bernard Herman and John Carpenter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WONUBXkD14
My research told is there are other entities besides the major players - SESAC, BMI, and ASCAP etc. that handle those different revenue streams (can't remember who) - I am just trying to finally get going on this after years of ala "work for hire" in-house company composer - since I now have a distributed feature that I know is getting play. Since I set up the publishing with ASCAP starting there and then I will tackle the other ways to try to generate revenue... Always a battle it seems!1 person likes this
The song is very catchy! Ah maybe a service like Soundmouse would work? (though I think that's more geared to TV)- if you have success with any services you use it would be great to hear about it, I for one would love to actually get some of the money I'm owed off the Bezos empire!
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Mark - I'm ASCAP and went to battle back in Feb/Mar with them since I had scored two films deserving of royalties and received nothing for royalties. First they claimed I didn't submit the cuesheet. Interesting as composers fill out the cuesheet but the production company is supposed to submit them. Well anyway, I sent the cuesheets three times to ASCAP (tvcuesheet@ascap.com). There is also rapidcue.com but I don't have an id for that system.
No royalties still - ASCAP said their 'sampling' did not indicate any showings of the films. One film showed on Amazon. ASCAP told me (not sure if this is true or not), that sampling only occurs on Amazon for films with at least 100,000 showings. The other was a satellite / cable channel called shorts.tv. Not many showings there - probably 30 to 50 but I expected a few pennies :) ASCAP told me that the channel is not in their sample because they don't have a contract with ASCAP. Mea Culpa! since when does the organization not go after entities because of lack of contract?
Anyhow, my other local scoring friends have told me that from a film royalty perspective, BMI is preferable to ASCAP. So next film I score that goes onto anything that deserves royalties, I'm going to consider switching.... though I still don't know if BMI goes through the same or a different process from ASCAP in determining how to pay.
It's a shame that the lower volume film showings don't get treated the same as the higher volume films.
See my prior posts on this:
https://www.stage32.com/lounge/composing/Ascap-bmi
https://www.stage32.com/lounge/composing/Music-Royalties-For-The-Lower-V...
Thanks for the info - Disheartening info, but good info!
I knew going into this that the whole idea of PRO and retaining publishing of my score for soundtrack sales etc. is really only when you happen to have a hit film you are involved with and so far - not happening on this one. I also plan to release some music singles as well so they same publishing entities needed to be set up for that anyways.
So you suggest I send my cue sheet via that email to see if they accept it? Did they ever finally accept it from you?
accepted but since none of my films show up in their quarterly 'sampling', I get paid nothing. Makes no difference whether I can prove they showed or not or whether there is a cuesheet or not. If they don't have a contract and it doesn't sample you can not via ASCAP get a share.
Understood - very unfortunate the biz world works this way - one step at a time - so I will still pursue getting the cue sheet in - I still think mainly it's so if something goes viral then it's less disputable... Thanks again for sharing your experience!
Question: When the cue sheets were submitted did you submit the cues with their ISRC codes? That may help. I am with COTT (Copyright Music Organization of Trinidad and Tobago) which is a CMO affiliate. I'll be applying to BMI over the weekend. For all my works I make sure the ISRC codes are attached (aka. I make sure its in the metadata of the music I'm sending to my CMO along with the written forms)
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No - I have not - because I have not released the music yet - but perhaps this is something to consider/research if it matters. The two items should be independent as the revenue streams are not related as well. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Counterpoint- all my cue sheets have ISRCs and still having a nightmare with PRS. So it might help, but it's not a guarantee. Good luck with it Mark!
Thank you!