“Playing in a profit place like a bar/lounge should only be paid if an ASCAP or BMI agent notes every song that is being played and sends the list in so the songwriter gets royalties. Right now, how do they know what songs I sang in the Embassy Suites last night? The hotel paid their license, but ASCAP/BMI has no idea what we played. So who is going to get the money? It was a 50 year high school reunion. Did Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Otis Blackwell, Ritchie Adams, Malou Rene, Mack Gordon, Harry Warren, Hank Ballard, Bunny Wailer, Smokey Robinson, Barry Mann, Phil Spector, Cynthia Weill, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Luis Demetrio, Pablo Beltran Ruiz and all the others get paid?”


Yes, they would have been paid, if you had made a simple MP3 recording of the performance, noted the songs and writers, and submitted the list to ASCAP/BMI. Otherwise, the royalties are paid into the “General Licensing Allocation.” In that case, the big fish get all the royalties. Now this practice should be changed, for sure.


“90db, if I played one of your songs, would you have gotten even one penny?”

Yes, if you had reported the performance to BMI. Although a whole penny might be optimistic. grin


“I played one of mine and didn't get royalties from it.”

That's down to you.

All of the PROs now have programs in place where artists can report their live performances and set lists, and get paid for shows in unsurveyed venues. The programs are ASCAP OnStage, BMI Live, and SESAC’s Live Performance Notification System.  If you’re a member of one of these organizations and you aren’t using these programs yet, please check them out.  You have a limited amount of time to input your live performances and get paid for them (between 3-6 months), so the sooner you get into the habit of reporting your live shows, the better.


“The publisher should not be allowed to make more money on the song than the songwriter. Who's song is it anyway?”


The split depends entirely on the contract between the writer and the publisher. Neither party has a gun to his head. (Except, of course, in the case of Don Corleone and Johnny Fontane) laugh

Dyslectics Untie!


https://90dbband.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/90-db

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_3mpivKYV7T7XFJmXL-GA