In the music industry, getting paid for your work and protecting it involves more than just creating music and sending it to your Distributor.
Registering your works with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) ensures worldwide royalty collection and an extra protective layer for your music.
If you would like to get paid for the use of your works in things such as Television, Shows, Bars, as well as collect extra income from streaming services, then sit back and enjoy this blog post
Performance royalties and PROs: Everything you need to know.
A Performing Rights Organization (PRO) is an organization that represents songwriters, composers, and music publishers in the collection and distribution of performance royalties for their music. These organizations act as intermediaries between music creators and those who use their music publicly, such as radio stations, television networks, streaming platforms, live venues, restaurants, and more.
The primary function of a PRO is to monitor the public performance of music, collect royalties for those performances, and distribute those royalties to the appropriate rights holders. PROs have agreements with similar organizations worldwide, allowing them to collect royalties for performances of their members’ music globally.
Some well-known PROs include the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC).
Performance royalties are generated each time your song is “publicly performed” or broadcasted on things such as:
Performance royalties are not to be mistaken with the master recording royalties that Digital Distributors such as Distrokid pay.
These royalties relate to the use of the composition and lyrics of your music, which is a different set of copyright than you recordings. This could mean you are missing out on these extra royalties, if you are not registered with a PRO.
The writer’s share goes to the creative who wrote the song and lyrics, and the Publisher’s share goes to the company or person who administrates and licenses the music to third parties.
Collecting both of these royalties can be tricky and there could be a lot of confusion, I know. Let me explain the difference between a songwriter and a Publisher:
The writer’s share of royalties is the portion of royalties earned by the songwriter(s) or composer(s) of a musical work. It represents the creative contribution to the composition itself. When a song is played or performed in public, the writer’s share of royalties is collected by Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) and distributed to the songwriters/composers.
The publisher’s share of royalties is the portion of royalties earned by the music publisher(s) associated with the musical work. Music publishers often handle administrative tasks such as licensing, promoting, and distributing the music. They may also provide financial support to songwriters/composers. When a song is played or performed, the publisher’s share of royalties is collected by PROs or other licensing agencies and distributed to the publishers.
To sum things up:
For every $1.00 earned on performance royalties:
If you are a self administered songwriter, then you can collect both the Publisher’s and Writer’s share, since you write your music and act as your own Publisher.
PROs like BMI allow you to register as a songwriter only and you can collect both shares, while PROs like ASCAP require you to get accounts as both a Publisher and Writer.
You can signup for BMI or ASCAP, even if you’re outside of the US. Just keep in mind if your country doesn’t have a tax treaty with the US, it might be better to register at your local PRO, since 30% out of your royalties might go to US Tax.
If you are in a deal with a Publishing admin like SongTrust or TuneCore, they will collect both shares and send them out to you, depending on how your deal is structured.
It depends on the terms of your deal, but generally Artists receive 100% of the writer’s share through their PRO account and a percentage of the Publisher’s share.
The Publisher usually collects all of the Publisher’s share and sends a percentage of it to the writer.
The answer depends on where you’re from and which PRO you would like to affiliate yourself with.
Some PROs don’t charge a fee if you want to join them, and some can charge anywhere between $50 and $500 depending on whether you want to register as both a Publisher and a Songwriter.
It all depends on your personal preference, while there are some differences between both, they generally do the same thing,
Here are some key differences:
Having a PRO ensures you are compensated for the performance royalties that are generated from TV, Film, bars and more.
PROs advocate for the rights of music creators, lobbying for fair compensation laws and protecting the interests of their members in the ever-evolving music industry landscape.
Having only a distributor does not help you collect your Publishing royalties, but being informed on where the money from your music is going does.
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