Everything about Harry Fox.

You may have heard the name Harry Fox.  Like PROs (for songwriting royalty collection on public performances, online streaming or terrestrial radio) or SoundExchange (for only performers royalty collection for having performed --only internet based), the Harry Fox Agency covers a very specific segment of the song writing royalty business.

Whereas PROs like ASCAP and BMI cover performance royalties for usage in things like radio broadcast, and SoundExchange tracks royalties for music used in digital media for recording artists, the Harry Fox Agency works a very specific segment of the market.  The "HFA" represents music publishers for their mechanical and digital licensing needs. 

What are mechanical rights? Basically a mechanical right specifies who can reproduce your music by making their own new recording of it an then distributing that version. Now that's not to be confused with master recording rights which have to do with who reproduce and release a recording you've already made.

So for example, if you wanted to record your version of another artist's song, you'd pay a "compulsory" (or obligatory set fee) licensing fee to Harry Fox which would give you the right to record and reproduce copies of the song. The rate is based on the "estimated number of CDs or digital" downloads you expect to manufacture or sell. If you sell more then the expected number you owe more fees. The current mechanical rate is 9.1 cents per copy for a song that is 5 minutes long or less. So, for example if you intend to press 1,000 CD copies of a Beatles song that you recorded you would owe Harry Fox $91.

If you estimate you'll sell 1,000 digital downloads of the same track, you'll also owe $91.00 for those. In addition to issuing mechanical licenses and collecting and distributing mechanical royalties, HFA also conducts royalty examinations to verify the accuracy of royalty statements reported and payments paid by licensees. 

They also pursue piracy claims from copyright holders and offer rights management solutions for like Slingshot for music providers and Songfile for licensing music. For example, if you want to find out if that Beatles song you want to cover is available through Harry Fox, you use Songfile.

Songfile is an online mechanical licensing tool designed for the do-it-yourself music industry market. It allows anyone to search through a database of over millions of songs and purchase licenses. Once a song is licensed Slingshot can be used to manage the license. Slingshot is a rights management service that helps digital music providers manage their licenses and is designed to eliminate the need for licensees to hire a staff to manage thousands of licensing relationships, develop a rights database, program complex royalty formulas, or handle the royalty payment process.

Clients instead make one payment, and Harry Fox handles the rest. So for example, let's say you want to produce an album of pop cover songs, you would first search Songfile to see if the songs are managed by Harry Fox. You would then need to license each one of those songs individually. But by managing this process through Slingshot you don't have to worry about keeping track of each individual license yourself. Slingshot keeps track of all of the songs you've licensed, the fees you've paid and the royalties due. Now, because Harry Fox is the only agency in the US that handles mechanicals, if someone wants to license a song that's not listed on Songfile it means it's not managed by Harry Fox and that person would have to contact the publisher of the song directly to obtain the mechanical license.

Some publishers and artists chose not to work through the Harry Fox Agency and handle mechanical licensing themselves. If you're an independent artist, you may find it easier to handle mechanical licensing requests yourself. You can find sample mechanical licensing agreements just by googling the term. If you reach a point where you're receiving an endless stream of licensing requests, which isn't a bad problem to have, and you can't handle them yourself, then you can register with Harry Fox and let them do the job for you. So that's a brief rundown of the Harry Fox Agency and how it fits into the elaborate landscape of the songwriting business.  

FYI-It should be noted again, that the Harry Fox Agency is aka "HFA" in the music business world.

"SoundExchange" Information for the Music Composer and Songwriter

Join a PRO if you're a songwriter; this should have been done yesterday!  But also join SoundExchange.  SoundExchange, just like the PRO's (BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC), collects royalties but a few things make "SE" different.  SE is a unique organization. 

First, SoundExchange doesn't collect royalties from terrestrial radio stations. They only collect from newer media sources like satellite radio and internet music streaming services.  SE's job is to collect the performance royalties for the master recording owners.  Remember that a song produces 2 copyrights: one is the actual copyright that happens when it is written and another one when it is recorded.  This latter is known as the "master" copyright. 

SoundExchange collects royalties for the copyright holders of the "master" sound recordings.  The composer is not included here unless he or she is also the performer and/or record label involved.   Therefore to understand the concept, SE collects for usually the label and the performing artists involved.  The PRO's like ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI act on behalf of song writers and publishers and collect copyright royalties for the writers. 

Here is an example given by Garrick Chow on a curated songwriter course published at Lynda.com:

"For example, say a series satellite radio station plays the White Stripes' version of Jolene. SoundExchange will collect and distribute royalties for Meg White and Jack White, the performers, as well as the owner of the master recordings be it the White Stripes or their record label. BMI, meanwhile, will collect royalties for the song writer, Dolly Parton and her publisher for the performance of her song copyright."

The example continues stating that:

"in the case that any other musicians played on the recording, they would also be paid performance royalties from SoundExchange. While the payments for song writing and publishing through BMI, ASCAP and CSAC depend largely on the split sheets, SoundExchange has a fairly rigid royalty breakdown. From the Sound Exchange website, under the law, 45% of performance royalties are paid directly to featured artists on the recording and 5% are paid to a fund for non-featured artists, typically session musicians and background singers. The other 50% of the performance royalties are paid to the owner of the sound recording, meaning the owner of the master recording, which can also be a record label or an artist who owns their own masters."

So, featured artists, and master copyright holders are the only benefited from SE.  The composers and writers will still need to use a PRO in order to track and collect their royalties onsite and EVEN online as well from online radio stations.  It is quite easy and FREE to sign up with SE. You can sign up with SoundExchange at register.soundexchange.com.  Happy songwriting and performing!

Music Licensing Continued.

Ever wonder what a Music Publisher is?  The first thing to note, if we are talking about the business of music publishing, is that music publishing is a profitable business, otherwise there wouldn't be any sense for it within the industry and Songwriters will find no means of financial support.  

The other thing to note is that music publishers are nothing without the work of the songwriters behind the music.  You see, Music Publishers don't write songs, but rather represent and exploit the works of songwriters.  This is true also in the case of instrumental music works. 

Music Publishers want to "maximize" with each song, it's "worth" and its ROI (or return on investment) to themselves and of course, in turn, to the writers of the music.  In other words, if the writer doesn't get paid, the publisher doesn't get paid. 

For their song exploitation services, the publisher usually gets either partial, or total ownership of the song copyright, and a piece of the financial return for their work. Since the copyright initially belongs to the songwriter, this is known as an assignment or transfer of the copyright for a specified time frame from the writer to the publisher.  The time period is known as the term of the agreement or contract between the writer and his or her publisher. 

For this temporary assignment of rights, the publisher will "pitch" the song and its catalog to as many end users as possible.  Every time an end user needs music and wishes to use it, it needs to ask for permission to the publisher holding the composition under its catalog of works.  

This permission will yield a monetary return.  Now, the business of asking and granting "music use permission" is called "licensing".

This simply means that in order to use a song or a piece of original music, the end user needs permission from the publisher (that got the transferred right to it from the writer).  So, at the end of the day, any use of music produces some type of licensing and monetary transaction.

From the song we hear on the radio, to the song we play at our corporate party, to the live cover band playing at the local club, to the song used in a TV commercial or Youtube channel, even the Spotify playlist our friend created.   All of these uses need to be cleared (and paid for!!!) before they happen.
This is done directly with the songwriter OR via its publisher (depending on the situation).  But, the point is of the publisher and writer, is to spread the song licensing avenues as much as possible in order to exploit its use.

Insight of what a Music Publisher is...

The business of exploiting music compositions in every and any way possible is the the business of "music publishing".  Needless to say this is a for "profit" business. Their job is to exploit musical "assets", aka "songs".  Songs are like property, they are intellectual property, and the owners are the songwriters, however, songwriters assign publishing and admin rights to publishers for something in return.  That said, publishers make the best effort in having the songs placed where these could earn revenue.

That way, to "exploit" means to have "revenue-generating" songs. The more revenue the publisher gets from the song, the better for the publisher and in turn for the songwriter. For example publishers exploit their catalogue of assigned songs, via placements in TV, and film, cover songs, and any other usage where a publishing stream of revenue could be identified. The professional publisher has the means and contacts to sell the sheet music version of your song. Or an instrumental version, or any other kind of version. A well established publisher, and even an indie one, will have connections in the business that songwriters don't have. Plus, they have the much needed time to push the music that artists themselves don't usually have or want to pursue. And they have the business savvy to make deals that might be more difficult for artist themselves to make.  In this sense, writers could spend more time writing sings and less time pushing them.

For their exploitation services, the publisher usually gets either partial or total ownership of the song copyright for a specific amount of time or "term". Since the copyright initially belongs to the songwriter, this is known as an "assignment" or "transfer" of the copyright. Once the copyright is settled, the publisher pitches the songs to record labels, ad agencies, film, TV, and video game producers, or anyone else who might be interested in the song. Then the publisher licenses the right to use the song, and charges a fee. The subsequent fee is then split with the song writer, usually at a 50-50 split, or whatever was agreed upon in the publishing deal.  For example, CD Baby and Tuncore's publishing deals have a split similar to each other with variating percentages depending on the placement secured for the song.

Now, what about the recording and music production industry?  How are publishers getting into this market?  Well, in addition to the other mentioned music users, the publisher will also pitch the song to other recording artists and performers. If you write a song, and another singer records it. You still get writing/publishing royalties on that new recording, even if you didn't perform on it. Performers get paid out of a different royalty pie, and more on that in a later post. Now you may be asking, why would I sign away my copyright, as well as 50% of my licensing royalties to some giant publishing company, who didn't write on any of my songs? Well, you really don't need to sign up with a publishing company and in fact, getting a deal from a publishing company may be just as difficult as getting a record deal, that is why may independent music libraries and licensing companies are tailoring what was known as the old publishing deal. Many songwriters set up their own publishing companies in order to get their entire publishing royalties.  But again, it is a business of not what you know but who you know, and how effective is your pitch of your same song going to be.

So in the case that you publish your music under your own company, and license a song to be used in a commercial, you get paid your full song-writing share, as well as the entire publishing share. So it's like you're getting paid twice. Of course the trade-off for collecting 100% of the publishing royalties, is that if you're publishing your own music, you might have fewer publishing opportunities and effective contacts. That is why the upside of publishing through an established music publisher is that they have a large pool of contacts to pitch music to. It's the publisher's job and in its best interest to sell a song as often and in as many forms as possible, therefore if you (the writer) do not get paid, neither will the publisher.  Get why having even an indie publisher dedicated to your catalog could be of a great service to you the artist???!!!

How to Register with a Performance Rights Organization...

Once you've written an original song and you know what the splits are, (in cases where you've co-written the song), legally and financially, it's in your best interest to register the song with your performance rights organization as soon as possible. In cases where you expect your song getting played on the radio, used in any show, or performed live, you'll want to take care of the registration as soon as possible. Remember that this is the first step before you can get paid your publishing royalties. Whether you are acting as your own publisher or have a publishing and admin deal (with Tunecore, CD Baby, etc.), I would make sure that they are taking care of the process of registering with ASCAP, SESAC, or BMI.

For example, if you've decided to register with BMI, go to www.BMI.com/join.  Here, click Join BMI. Next, choose whether you're registering as a songwriter or as a publisher. If you're registering as both, you'll run through both processes separately. BMI also has a special process and conditions for registering as a classical music composer. Currently song writers can register online for free and it is in your best interest that you do so!  Again, make sure you're registering as a publisher as well IF you do not have a publisher already.

Registering as a publisher requires you to download and fill out the application in the case of BMI. 

The process is similar for joining ASCAP. Go to ascap.com/join. Decide if you're registering as a writer or a publisher. In the case of ASCAP, case can do both of these online. Just walk through the form and complete the information. 

Once you are a registered member of your PRO you can start registering your songs promptly. For example, here on the BMI site you would click Works Registration. And from there it's just a matter of working your way through the online form by completing information about your song, the writers on the song, what commercial recordings the song appears on, if any, and so on.  This works like tagging a piece of digital work.  Might be tedious work, but as said before, it is a necessary step before you can see any money from your music!

When you've completed the registration of the song or songs of your authorship, that's all you need to worry about because it's your PRO's responsibility and function to keep track of when and where the song is played and to collect royalties on your behalf.  How do THEY themselves get paid?  Well, remember that all the PRO's are charging blanket license fees to any and all establishments that use music to broadcast, play live, rebroadcast, etc.  From this money, you! (the writer) get paid.

Getting to know your Performance Rights Organization a.k.a. "PRO"

A song is born as a composition and then it lives through its "performances".  These performances were at one point just "live performances".  But now when you hear your favorite song on the radio, in a TV show or even a song playing in the background at a club or restaurant, the writer of that song is paid for that performance.  It might be a good place to note that ONLY the writers get paid from these performances.  The PRO's or Performance Rights Organizations oversee your work on your behalf, the WRITER, (or writers) to get you paid from these performances.  However, this is not done automatically.  If you want to get what is owed to you as the writer/composer (even if it is a percentage of the whole monies collected), for your songs being played, you MUST register your songs with a Performance Rights Organization or PRO, and also get yourself a membership to these organizations.  By the way, it is a very simple process!   

Once your songs are registered, they become part of that PRO's library and are available to that PRO's customers. These customers pay licensing fees to the PRO's.  Any broadcasting company like a radio station or re-boradcast place like a restaurant, or live venue must pay a blanket license fee to all 3 PRO's in order to be able to play music freely from infringing on the illegal use of music.  These business pay the PRO's and the PRO's pay the authors and their publishers for the public broadcast, rebroadcast, or live performances of music even in the case of covers.  The companies that pay the PRO's include the likes of radio and television stations, night clubs, restaurants, websites, malls, any place that plays music publicly.  Private use is exempt in this case.

So, every time a registered song is played in one of these places, royalties are owed to the copyright owners.  In turn, the PRO's collect royalties and then pay the royalties minus some minor operational fees to the "copyright holders" and "publishers".  Therefore, when becoming a member as an author, by default you have to register as a publisher as well IF you do not have a publisher that already administers your work. Factors like how you filled out your Split Sheets (part of a prior blog post) and whether you have your own publishing company will affect the amount of your royalty payment.  Most places that play music publicly like malls or restaurants, purchase a "blanket" or general license that gives them access to the PRO's entire library, rather than purchasing individual licenses per song.  Although, some places may do that if they don't use a lot of music, and they will have to contact the publishers and authors one by one IF they choose not to get a blanket license from the PRO's.

Now, how PRO's keep track of which songs are played at any time in order to get accurate records for royalty distribution?  Each PRO (ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI) uses a variety of methods, and sometimes these methods are a matter of contention giving how arduous a task it would be to track individual song plays. As a general rule, radio and TV stations are audited with a varying combination of sample surveys, program schedules and playlists from their broadcasts and the information on which songs were played is pretty accurate.  Also, these entities report as part of complying with copyright and broadcasting law to companies that crunch numbers for marketing and other purposes.  Places like restaurants and stores, usually pay a flat rate and the money collected from them goes into a royalty pool and its distribution is based on other calculations done by the PRO's.  As you guessed, this has also brought controversies as to which PRO has a better method.

Talking briefly about the specific PRO's in the US, there are 3 main Performance Rights Organizations. ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. As a songwriter, you can only register your songs with one of them. 

ASCAP, or the Association Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was founded in 1914 and is the oldest PRO. Their current membership is comprised of over 470,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers.  Currently, they charge a one-time fee of $50 to register as a writer, and $50 to register as a publisher. In order to collect your publisher's share of royalties as an ASCAP member, you need to have an ASCAP publishing company. 

BMI, or Broadcast Music Inc was founded in 1939 with more than 600,000 members. A lot of songwriters register with BMI, because it's free. Registering as a publisher currently costs $250 though, but you don't need to be a publishing company to collect your publisher's share of royalties at BMI.

SESAC is the only performance rights organization in the US that's not open to all songwriters.  Instead, they "invite" songwriters to join, and until they offer that invitation back to you (or accept you!), you will need to wait to become a member.  In other words, it is not automatic.   They're very selective and according to SESAC, this lets them nurture personal relationships with their songwriters and publishers.  They are also the only for-profit.  SESAC is always open to hearing new material, so do not detour from wanting to give them a try when ready to join a PRO.

As mentioned, these PRO's are US based, however, they have relationships with other PRO's around the world that work in collecting foreign performance royalties.  Remember not to get confused with the word "performance", PRO's ONLY collect performance royalties for authors and their publishers, not royalties for the performers of the songs.  This last process is done by another organization which we will talk about in a future post.

The Process of Copyrighting a Song: How to do it? Simple!!!

How to copyright a song? Well, first a bit on what a copyright is.  It is precisely that:  the right to copy a song or intellectual work.  For the purposes of our blog, this post will apply to copyrighting a song.  The copyright law stipulates that the author or copyright holder is the individual or group of individuals that actually own the song.   And as we said, the owner of the song has the right to reproduce or make multiple copies of a song. When a song goes under the process of copyright, it means the song is given protection under U.S., and in many cases, international law, against infringement or illegal copying. Whomever wishes to use that song will need to go through the appropriate clearance process.  This process is the process of asking for permission or asking for "licensing" to a particular song.

Now how are song initially copyrighted?  Well, songs are automatically considered copyrighted as long as they're original and in a "tangible" state and it is an original piece of work.  The song needs to be recorded, written on a piece of paper along with its melody, or stored somewhere like a USB memory drive, etc. So as long as it's an original song and it's recorded or written in some tangible form, it's automatically copyrighted. 

However, the mere fact of writing it along with writing the music to it will create the compositional copyright.  This is the most general form for the initial song to be simply copyrighted.  But IF the song is also recorded in some form, then this will create the second most common conceived copyright for the same song.  This second form of copyright will be the recording copyright.  

These are two separate copyrights and will be treated as such.  Which is more important?  Well, the first composition copyright will take over in any infringement case.  The second recording or "master" recording copyright is almost always exclusive and will almost always be held by a record company.  Each time a song is recorded, it has its own copyright, the copyright for that version of the song. But the idea of the song, the intellectual copyright, which, in the case of music, is often referred to as the composition or the work, is a separate copyright and will always be the same for all the versions.  

So for example, if someone records their own version of the song you wrote, they would own the copyright to that recording or "master" recording, but you still own the "composition" copyright of the song.  

Now a bit on what we all hear as registering the work with the copyright office.  Although under intellectual law, the song is automatically copyrighted when it is conceived, it will always be in your best interest as the author of the song, to go through the registration process with the copyright office.

Some of the benefits of registering the work is that in order to have the right to sue someone for "copyright infringement", a registration with the copyright office is required. You may register your work online. First, make sure you have a copy of your song on your computer in an electronic format such as a WAVE or MP3 file format.  Instead, if you wish to register the composition in a written format, you may do that instead and will serve the same purpose.  If the song is written down, you can submit it to the US Copyright Office as a PDF, a Microsoft Word document or a JPEG if you take a picture of your written composition.

Registering more and more can start to get pricey in many cases. The cheapest way around this, however, is to copyright an entire album. That way, you only pay a single registration fee and you only have to fill out one registration form, and ALL the songs contained on that album are still protected under copyright law and most importantly REGISTERED.  For more info go to the US Copyright Office and get familiar with the process.  

Songwriting - The Split Letter

The Split Letter or sometimes called a Split Sheet is a standard music industry form that can take many shapes and forms (no pun intended!).  However, it always carries the same information relevant to the composition. 

In this letter, the songwriters to a particular song are listed along with the percentages each contributor is responsible for, creating therefore, a "split" or division in income takes.  

If you co-write with someone else, then the split sheet or split letter takes on a very important role, as this form will carry forward onto the PRO's and publishers and writers, involved.  Each person may get different amounts of splits according to their particular contribution. 

It may seem like a lot of trouble, but trust me, you don't want to be involved in an issue where back payments are being held by ASCAP (for example) because of a discrepancy in the split sheet and the writers of the work.  Payments are behind anyway from a PRO to a the writer and publisher, so the more issues that arise, the more you will have to wait in order to see your cut or income from the song. You should have the split sheets ready to go at each of the recording sessions for future reference, and give each of the contributors a signed copy of it. 

Now, what to include in it?  Well, as with any document worth something, you should include worthy info.  A name and a signature will not be sufficient.  You can download a copy of a split sheet at your PRO's site, or simply call them and ask for a sample. Google documents is another good place to start.  But for example, include, the name (or names) of the songwriters.  Include their Social Security numbers, addresses, PRO's involved, publisher of each songwriter, Driver's License info, and any other info that may be of service in case of an identity issue.  Hold back from including financial info such as routing and account numbers from banks as this info should be already available at the point of payment such as at the PRO's database.  This also limits the liability of that type of info going around in a form from one hand to another.  Having a notarized copy will also help but it may not be necessary.  For more info on split letters (split sheets) visit ASCAP, SESAC, or BMI for their songwriter resources and FAQ sections.  Here is a good example of what a split sheet must contain.

Music Publishing: Only half the battle...

Ever thought of making money while relaxing at your favorite vacation spot?  That is precisely what some musicians and writers are doing more often than not.  Why?  And most importantly....how?!!!

The why is simple, you can make money from simply spreading the seed of your own music in more ways than you can think of.  Typically selling downloads and CD's was the way to do it.  Now, the streaming platforms (i.e. Pandora, Spotify, etc.) have made it possible for one to enjoy music on demand.  On the other hand, piracy has made it nearly impossible for the music industry to recover from the downfall it suffered on its CD and download sales.  Therefore, because now we can tune to digital radio, and streaming platforms, music payouts have restructured.  So, many music makers are cashing in on having their music posted on these and other more direct platforms.

How can an artist and composer make money online from a simple stream?  As a music maker, you must understand the basics of how is the money being generated on your behalf.  There is the revenue from a composition standpoint.  These are the royalties that a composer makes from simply being the composer of the work.  PRO's (ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI) are still at the forefront of the collecting process here where terrestrial or digital.  However, one very important issue is to be observed.  Besides the composer, the performer and record company (could be the same!), holding the master (or master recording) rights are also entitled to a piece of the royalties from any digital streaming source.  Unlike terrestrial radio that only pays via a PRO to the composers involved, digital radio and streaming companies pay the composers and also the performers.  As said, the composers are paid through any of the PRO's involved, however, the performers will be paid via Sound Exchange.  To get your piece of the royalties owed you need to, as an artist or band, get registered and exercise your due diligence in order to expect some return on your work.    

Therefore, music publishing as we know it, has expanded through time.  Making music available to the public is only part of the process.  Getting your music registered the right way can make all the difference.  Whether you are a composer, a performer, or both, there is money you need to claim.  The funny thing is that although it is your right as any one of the above, you need to exercise it and get educated in business and revenue aspects of your creative work.

Syndication...

Radio as we know it has had the same format for ages.  However, one common theme has taken the industry by storm in recent years.  That is:  "Syndication"...or as others call it, "controlled programming".  Having a radio program is no longer bounded by the fact that the show becomes a syndicated one.  With the popularity of podcasts, a syndicated radio show is a click away.  Syndication guaranteed a radio show more commercials and better income.  Now, a popular podcast can do the same!