How does a songwriter ensure he gets paid royalties for a song he wrote?

Question

I'm curious to know if it works the same in all parts of the world. I was told that in one country, the Copyright Organization would take a "sample" every 2-3 days of the radio stations to determine the frequency of rotation of songs. If anyone has details on who rotyalties work, I'd like to find out.

Answer 1

It works differently in different countries. In the US, there are multiple layers of royaties. There's the publisher's share and the writer's share...the publisher's share goes to whoever owns the rights to the song (which may also be the songwriter himself). Then there's the writer's share....this always goes to the writer.

Performace royalties (which include radio play) are collected by one of three performance rights organizations (PRO) in the US: ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. These companies use various methods to keep track of how many plays a song gets.....

First, radio stations are required to report at least once a year (maybe more...i'm not sure without looking it up) on what songs they played within a certain time period. Also, there are technology powered systems that actually scan the radio waves and count whenever a song is played (which is amazing if you think about it). There are other ways as well....and you can read about them on the websites of ASCAP, BMI, ans SESAC.

Each peformance rights org collects money from every radiostation in the form of blanket liscensing (allowing the radio station to play the entire catalog). They then take a small percentage and distribute the royalties to the publisher and the writer.

(that's a simplified version...it gets way more in depth..i took a whole class on it in school...but that's the basics). It works similar in every country with small variations depending on the PRO and the copyright laws of the country.

Answer 2

Yes, many countries use radio sampling. That's why many radio and tv stations have coryright desks and there's someone on it whose job is to note the frequency of songs. The copyright agency then analyses for payment.
But I'll advise you to work with an agent. Agents know the methods to ensure you get copyrights from your songs.

Good luck

Answer 3

In the U.S. you would join ASCAP or BMI. Those organizations handle auditing of performance, radio play, and sales for royalty purposes.

Answer 4

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