JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum A Question about royalty collection - please help

Hi to everyone.

I have been trying for a week now to find the answers myself, and hope someone here will be able to pass on the information that I need.

I had a song recorded by a singer about 7 years ago, and it was released by the artist, as a track on an album, via cdbaby, although it can be downloaded as a single, or streamed.

My own fault but I never kept track of it.

I have spoken to the singer, and I have no issues at all on that score. He registered me as the writer with cdbaby when the album was released.

My question is, do I have royalties and if so how do I go about finding out who should pay me. Probably only a dollar lol

This is for songwriter royalties.

any advice would be appreciated.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Hey Roy,

If the artist recorded the song and released it himself, then he is the producer, and owes you 9.8 cents per copy of every song sold, or whatever other price you may have agreed upon at the time.

cheers, niteshift

Mechanical royalties are usually paid up front for small pressings.If he pressed 1000 copies,he should pay you 1000 times what ever the royalty rate is,which is different in every country.As for download royalties,there is no way to pay up front because no one knows how many downloads one will get,therefore he/she is expected to pay after the fact.CD Baby (or others)pays the artist,not the writer,the artist is suppose to pay the writer.This depends on the honesty of the artist,no way you will ever know how many downloads he/she gets.The down load royalty should be the same rate as the mechanical rate per song.The only royalty a writer is halfway sure of getting is the mechanical royalty,by law they can not record your song without a license,even though it gets done,but if they get caught they are open to a heavy fine.

Thanks Nite

I supplied the finished music track and he just recorded the vocals in a studio...

Does that change anything as far as being the producer counts.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Morning Roy!

I think the best course of action would be to discuss your concerns with the singer. Send him a link to this thread. That should start the negotiating ball a rollin'.

Best, John

Thanks for answering some of Everett

A lot to go through, but I do it tonight.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Thanks John for some good comments.

I don't have any concerns with the singer at all, and I know he will do whatever is right. I just wanted to know for the future sake mainly as I will be doing some promotion on the song in about 6 months time (via my label). So I just wanted to clear everything in both mine and his head before then.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Are you a member or a PRO? They should be the ones who go after your roylaties.

Thanks for joining iggy.

No I'm not and I thought that separate agency's collected songwriter royalties, not the pro one.

could be wrong of course.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Roy,

In a nutshell, the artist who is releasing the record has to buy a mechanical license from the songwriter (or his representative, The Harry Fox Agency in the US). It costs the artist/publisher 9.1 cents per copy pressed or downloaded.

Then the PRO (BMI or ASCAP in the US) represents the songwriter and collects royalties from broadcasts of the song he wrote (radio, TV, etc.).

That's the simplified version.

In your case, you have to determine who the artist/publisher is (basically it would be the person whose name is on the record and is collecting the money from sales). The tracks you provided muddy the water a bit.

Hope this helps. I am not a lawyer (thank God)!!!

Humm,
I'm not sure how royalities are paid in the UK but here in the U.S. There is such a thing as a Mechanical License for Physical CD's ,and maybe other types of streaming. Publishing companies will issue a mechanical license to a Record Company or the particular Artist. The Mechanical License is paid on the amount of copies pressed, sold as determined by the label.

Pro royalities, here in the U.S. are paid by the Pro directly to the publisher, if any, and the writer's as indicated on the registration form filed with the Pro by either the writer or a publisher if a song is recorded and released. Someone has to register the song with the Pro to receive any Pro Royalities.

Your case needs to be clarified between you and the Artist. If you did not have a written agreement you may need to work one up. If things get testy, you may have to take it to court, if it is worth it.

This is where getting things done in advance prevents many problems down the road. For more information I suggest you go to http://www.halsguide.com and find the article, Practice safe songwriting.

Thanks Colin, sounds easy and nice and simplified.

I never had an agreement for the singer to be the publisher, so I guess I am still my own publisher. would that be right.

I'm not trying to muddy any waters with the singer, as I like him and we are friends in many ways, although I am here in the UK and he is in the USA.

Just trying to clarify things myself, then with him.

I will probably point him to this topic when I think its all here.

thanks again and

God Bless Roy and Helen

I read your first post again and you said the artist released the song on CD Baby. So he is the artist (and publisher by default if you are not collecting the money). You are the songwriter (did you write the melody or did he?), so in theory he owes you 9.1 cents per copy sold, unless you made a different agreement with him. If he wrote the melody, he is also a songwriter, so you would only be entitled to half of the 9.1 cents. This part is negotiable between the artist, songwriter and publisher if there is one.

When you register the song with your PRO for broadcast royalties, you would have to list all the songwriters, if there is more than one, you would get the appropriate percentage. (two cents instead of four!!!).

Thanks Ray for adding some more useful information to the topic.
I will go through it later tonight when my brain is clear.

But no court cases lol... My singer is up to scratch and honest as they come.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Thanks for returning Colin.

I had the whole music and melody done in a Nashville studio as 'work for hire'. So the music and melody is mine.

Things don't look too difficult and I am sure we will sort and get through it.

thanks again

God Bless Roy and Helen

Hi again Roy. “Work for hire” is a muddy situation in itself. Yes you own the music and the melody but probably not allowed to use the original recording of the demo on a commercially released recording without paying some sort of mastering fee.

Since you feel good about the artist, why not just ask him/her to send you the CD Baby earnings. If it’s making money then step two would be negotiating your share.

I’d still join a PRO and register any songs that you have had commercially recorded. Ya never know.

sound like good advice Iggy.

I am fine on the mastering Iggy as it was all paid for at the time... I had money then lol. And I was very insistent that I could use the music for whatever.

I even paid for and got all of the original pro-tools files so that I could change or tweak the music for whatever reason.

I will check out on the pros as well.

Thanks for helping

God Bless Roy and Helen

If you own the soundtracks, then he should have leased them from you at a fee agreed on.I know some singers would like to get soundtracks for nothing,so all they would have to pay for would be an hour in a studio to dub in their voice.If they went in a studio to record from scratch,they would be paying for musicians, studio time,engineering time and what ever else came up. I have leased soundtracks for a one time fee that helps me recover part of my original cost but saves the artist hundreds of dollars and the hassel of doing the complete recording.I still own the soundtrack to lease again if I want.

sorry I haven't replied sooner Everett.

a lot to digest.

Your points are very valid and I will consider them

thanks again and

God Bless Roy and Helen