music licensing companies

Music industry revenues have seen steady growth over the past decade and experts project that they will stay that way for the foreseeable future. The numbers may rise with the growing popularity of streaming among the younger generation. As physical sales dwindled in early 2010, other means of sale emerged, and millions of independent musicians turned to licensing their music in hopes of monetizing their work. The internet paved the way for more business opportunities and almost all of them require music content. There is more music revenue to be raked in compared to a decade ago as we have more TV shows, ads, commercials, campaigns, video games, movies, establishments, and businesses today. Every industry needs music content to operate in order to attract audiences. It is part of their marketing plan and these industries require the services of music licensing companies to fulfill such needs.

In fact, US music industry revenue for 2015 increased 0.9% to gross $7 billion. The RIAA also announced that streaming has surpassed digital and physical music sales for the first time, rising from 27% in 2014 to 34% in 2015. Streaming sales rose just 29% in 2015. Digital sales fell from $2 .58 billion in 2014 to $2.33 billion in 2015, a decrease of 9.6%. With the rise of streaming, physical sales suffered the biggest downward spiral as it only racked up $1.9 billion in sales, 10% of US sales. This was not the case 10 years ago when physical sales dominated the streaming industry. music.

The bulk of it comes from performing rights organizations and music licensing companies. These companies license their members’ music and distribute it to different industries across the country. There are three performing rights organizations for musicians in the US and they are ASCAP, SESAC and BMI.

The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is a nonprofit performing rights organization that protects the musical copyrights of its members by monitoring public performances of their music. This organization was launched in 1914, making it the oldest of the three. They compensate their members based on live and public performances of their music from other sectors.

As of 2015, ASCAP has licensed over 500,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. In 2014, it collected more than $941 million in license fees and distributed $828.7 million in royalties to its members. ASCAP charges a $50 writer fee and a $50 editor fee to become a member. To collect your publisher’s share of royalties as an ASCAP member, you must have an ASCAP publishing company.

Broadcaster Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performing rights organization in the United States. This organization was established in 1939. It collects license fees on behalf of its members and distributes them as royalties to songwriters, composers, and music publishers whenever their work is used in public or live performance. In 2015, BMI collected more than $1.013 million in license fees and distributed more than $877 million in royalties to its members. BMI represents 8.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 650,000 members. To become a member, BMI has a fee of $150 for publishers. However, they will not charge any fees to songwriters. You don’t need a publisher to collect your publisher’s portion of royalties on BMI.

The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, commonly known today as SESAC, is also a performing rights organization in the US. SESAC was first operated in 1930, the second oldest among the three. Unlike ASCAP and BMI, SESAC members must be approved or recruited to join your organization. It does not have an open membership. They represent more than 400,000 songs on behalf of their 30,000 affiliated writers. SESAC also retains an undisclosed amount of performance royalty income from its members.

These organizations collect royalties from the industries that use the work of their members. They distribute the royalties collected among their members. A royalty fee is the payment collected by one party from another for the continued use of a copyrighted asset. For example, if a song by your member is played in TV shows, movies, or commercials, they will collect the royalties and distribute them to your member, who owns the copyright to the music used. There are also different types of music royalties that you need to remember.

Mechanical Royalties: Mechanical royalties are royalties paid to a songwriter each time a copy of one of their songs is made. This royalty is paid by the record companies or by those who are in charge of publishing the composers’ records.

Performance Rights Royalty: The performance rights royalty is a royalty paid to a songwriter for the live performance of a song. In addition to a song used in live performances, such as city events, parades, etc., a live performance can also be a public performance of a recorded song, such as radio play, TV commercials, advertisements, and more. The blanket license is also used to deliver a large amount of music over an agreed period of time. This is often the case where individual song licenses would be difficult to manage. Blanket licenses are used by performing rights societies to give license applicants access to the entire album or songs of their members.

The usual split between musicians and these companies is 50/50 while others are 60/40. The percentage of the split is normally negotiable to benefit both parties involved.

There are also other means of compensation for the use of music content. These are called sync fees. A sync fee is a license granted by a music copyright holder to allow a licensee to sync music with visual media. Visual media consists of TV shows, movies, advertisements, commercials, websites, video games, etc.

Sync fees are typically paid up front and carefully negotiated based on asset usage. For example, if a car company needs music content for an upcoming commercial, it will actively look for songs that might fit what it is trying to achieve. The need is immediate and the compensation is also in advance. Sync fees can range from a few dollars to thousands, depending on the content. Some packages are one-time rates and others are based on airtime or usage.

There are other parties involved in collecting royalties, such as music publishers. Music publishers are in charge of making deals with singer-songwriters and composers. They promote the songs of their authors and composers among musicians and anyone else who may need musical content, such as movies, TV commercials, etc. They also issue licenses for the use of the songs they represent and charge license fees.

Many music publishers are concerned with the distribution of work done by composers and musicians. Music publishers have extensive experience on what to do and will have a large contact list to promote songs to the maximum number of potential licensees and negotiate the payment and use of each asset.

Most have inside connections or are subscribed to specific industries and other services that give them tips or early indications if someone is looking for music content for a particular project. They are also aware of the resurgence of the industry and the influx of new or old industries that need music content. Music publishers are always looking for new revenue streams in this technology-driven world.

If you are an independent composer or musician, you must obtain a license for your music. Not only is it important, but it also saves you time to focus solely on your passion and let others deal with all the complex music licensing issues. Some of the music licensing companies also act as advisors and critics, so learning more could really improve your chances of making it big locally or nationally.

Now is a great time to monetize and share your work with others, so don’t miss this opportunity. The music industry is constantly evolving and reaching new heights in terms of revenue. You must evolve with them by making quality music and expanding your craft at the same time.

You can learn more about music licensing companies along with my Top 50 Personal Music Licensing Companies in the US by watching my free video training course at http://silverscreenmusician.com. I see you there!

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