More Things To Do Before Releasing A Song (ASCAP, BMI, SoundScan, BDS, MediaBase)
Summary
TLDRThis video script serves as a comprehensive guide for independent musicians on the necessary steps to take after completing a song. It emphasizes the importance of registering with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) like ASCAP or BMI to collect royalties from radio plays and sync licensing. The script also covers the process of copyrighting music with the U.S. Copyright Office, obtaining UPC and ISRC codes, and registering with digital distributors and chart tracking services like SoundScan. Additionally, it highlights the value of registering with radio tracking services like BDS and Mediabase, which can be crucial for artists seeking label attention. The video aims to ensure musicians are not only promoting their music but also setting themselves up for financial success.
Takeaways
- 🎵 After finishing a song, it's crucial to register it with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC to collect royalties for radio plays and sync licensing.
- 💼 As an independent artist, consider creating a business entity like an LLC or S Corp to separate personal and business finances and to handle publishing.
- 📄 Register your music with the copyright office on copyright.gov to protect your work legally, which includes applying for both lyrics/melody and sound recording copyrights.
- 🔢 Work with a digital distributor to obtain UPCs (Universal Product Codes) and ISRCs (International Standard Recording Codes), which are essential for tracking sales and distribution.
- 📊 Submit your music to SoundScan to track sales and chart positions, which is important for visibility and industry recognition.
- 📡 Register your tracks with radio tracking services like BDS and Mediabase to monitor airplay and demonstrate your song's popularity to labels and other industry players.
- 💼 Ensure all administrative tasks are completed before reaching out to licensing companies or seeking radio promotion to streamline the process and maximize opportunities.
- 🔗 Having your backend paperwork in order, including PRO registration and copyright, is essential before engaging in music licensing or radio promotion.
- 🌐 Research and utilize various music licensing companies to explore opportunities for placing your music in TV, apps, games, and other media.
- 🎧 Engage with services like PlayMPE for radio promotion to increase your song's exposure and potentially gain more spins on the airwaves.
Q & A
What is the first step an independent artist should take after finishing a song before publishing?
-The first step an independent artist should take is to register their song with their performing rights organization (PRO) such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC to handle radio royalties and sync licensing royalties.
Why is it important to sign up as both a writer and a publisher with a PRO?
-Signing up as both a writer and a publisher ensures that the artist receives full royalties for their songs, as the writer receives royalties for the composition and the publisher receives royalties for the use of the composition.
What is the role of a publisher in the context of music royalties?
-A publisher collects and distributes royalties for the use of the composition, such as in radio plays, TV shows, or other media. If an artist does not have an official publisher, they can act as their own publisher.
What is an LLC or S Corp, and why might an independent artist consider starting one?
-An LLC (Limited Liability Company) or S Corp (S Corporation) is a type of business entity that can provide legal and financial benefits such as limited liability and tax advantages. An artist might start one to separate their business and personal finances and to formalize their music business.
Why should an artist register their music with the copyright office?
-Registering music with the copyright office provides legal protection for the artist's work, making it easier to enforce their rights and collect royalties for uses of their music, such as in TV shows, movies, or other media.
What are UPCs and ISRCs, and how do they relate to music distribution?
-UPCs (Universal Product Codes) and ISRCs (International Standard Recording Codes) are unique identifiers for albums and individual tracks, respectively. They are necessary for digital distribution and help track sales and plays for royalty payments.
How does registering with SoundScan benefit an artist?
-Registering with SoundScan allows an artist's music sales and plays to be tracked and potentially charted, which can increase visibility and credibility in the industry.
What are BDS and Mediabase, and why are they important for an artist's promotion?
-BDS (Broadcast Data Systems) and Mediabase are services that track radio airplays. They provide valuable data on where and how often an artist's music is played, which can be used for promotional purposes, such as targeting cities for tours or pitching to labels.
What additional steps can an artist take after completing the administrative work to promote their music?
-After completing the administrative work, an artist can reach out to licensing companies for placements in TV, apps, or games, or explore radio promotion services like PlayMPE to increase airplay.
Why is it beneficial for an independent artist to have their backend paperwork in order before publishing a song?
-Having backend paperwork in order ensures that an artist is prepared to collect all potential royalties and protect their rights, making it easier to capitalize on opportunities for music placements and licensing.
Outlines
🎵 Preparing for Music Publishing: Legal and Administrative Steps
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of administrative and legal preparations before publishing a song. It explains that simply recording a song is not enough; independent artists must register their work with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC to ensure they receive royalties for radio plays and sync licensing. The speaker recommends signing up as both a writer and a publisher to receive full royalties. They also discuss the process of registering a song with the copyright office, explaining the difference between copyrighting the lyrics and melody versus the sound recording. Additionally, the paragraph covers the necessity of setting up a song or album with a digital distributor to obtain UPC and ISRC codes, which are crucial for tracking sales and distribution. The speaker also advises updating the PRO account with this information to ensure proper royalty collection.
📈 Maximizing Music Exposure: Chart Registration and Radio Tracking
The second paragraph focuses on the final steps to maximize a song's exposure and chart potential. It discusses the importance of registering songs with SoundScan, which works with Billboard to track song plays and chart positions. The speaker provides guidance on how to register a single versus an album with SoundScan, emphasizing the simplicity of the process. Additionally, the paragraph highlights the value of registering songs with Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) and Mediabase, which track radio plays and provide valuable data for artists, especially for those seeking label attention. The speaker encourages artists to take advantage of these free services to gain insights into their song's radio performance and to use this data for touring and promotional purposes. The paragraph concludes by suggesting that with all the administrative work completed, artists can now focus on exploring further opportunities such as music licensing and radio promotion.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Publishing
💡Performing Rights Organization (PRO)
💡Radio Royalties
💡Sync Licensing Royalties
💡Writers and Publishers Account
💡LLC or S Corp
💡Copyright Office
💡UPC and ISRC
💡Digital Distributor
💡SoundScan
💡BDS and MediaBase
Highlights
Publishing a song involves more than just recording; it requires proper paperwork and registrations to ensure you get paid.
Register your song with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC for royalty collection.
Consider signing up as both a writer and a publisher with a PRO to receive full royalties.
There is a one-time application fee to register with a PRO, and no recurring fees afterward.
Register your song as a new work with your PRO, including writer and publisher information.
If you don't have an official publisher, you can act as your own by creating a business entity.
Visit the copyright office at copyright.gov to protect your music with copyright.
There are two types of copyright applications: one for lyrics and melody, and another for the sound recording.
Set up your song or album with a digital distributor to obtain UPC and ISRC numbers.
Use the UPC and ISRC numbers in your PRO account to ensure accurate royalty tracking.
Register your song and album information with SoundScan for chart tracking and industry recognition.
Register with BDS and Mediabase to track radio plays and gain valuable data for promotion and potential label interest.
Having your backend paperwork in order is crucial for music licensing opportunities and radio promotion.
Explore additional royalty tracking services once you have the basics covered.
Ensure all administrative work is completed before publishing to maximize revenue and opportunities.
Transcripts
so your song's finished you're ready to
publish it but here are some things that
you got to get done first let's get to
work jimmy jimmy make music make music
music
so many people think that once you're
done recording a song you just throw it
onto a digital distributor and
everything's gravy everything's done
that's all you got to do but that's not
it man if you're doing this stuff for
yourself as an independent you got some
paperwork to do there are other means to
get paid off your music other than doing
live shows of course there's a million
ways you can promote your stuff but you
got to get your paperwork right
otherwise you're promoting your songs
and you're not going to get paid one of
the first things you want to do is get
your song registered with your pro or
your performing rights organization
these are organizations like ascap bmi
or csac that take care of your radio
royalties and your sync licensing
royalties so if you get placements
anywhere on a tv show an app a game
anything like that they'll collect
royalties for you the one i personally
use is ascap or the american society of
composers authors and publishers but
feel free to research these
organizations there's two major ones in
the united states that's ascap or bmi
they all have their plus and minuses but
all essentially do the same thing if you
don't have an account already i
definitely recommend signing up as a
writer and a publisher so that you get
full royalties for your songs there is a
one-time application fee for whatever
type of account you're signing up for
the writers and publishers account is
100 bucks and you're done there's no
recurring fees they just pay you now
or collect money for you anyway super
simple off the bat you're going to
register a new work i'm not going to go
in depth with this
but you will put all the writers names
and their ascap information or bmi
information in these sections here
along with their publishers now if you
don't necessarily have
a publisher
you are the publisher if you don't have
an official publisher it's not a big
deal
make one up for yourself i recommend
starting an llc
or
an s corp or whatever type of business
you want to start
at the very least you want a doing
business as
company name simply so you can set up a
business bank account to get your stuff
separated from your personal bank
account so you got your song registered
with your pro the next thing you want to
do is hit the copyright office right on
copyright.gov you're going to make an
account it's called an eco account or
echo account i think they call it and
it's all very simple on this site there
are a lot of tutorials on this site to
help you get through the system and
learn what applications you need and
music copyright there are two different
types of applications one's for the
lyrics and the melody and one's for the
actual sound recording usually the sound
recording copyright will be suffice
enough for you but if you want that
extra protection for your lyrics and
your melody of the song you're going to
want to get that second copyright too
the next thing you're going to want to
do is set up your song or album with
your digital distributor because they're
going to give you the numbers that you
need to plug into some other sites like
your upc's and your isrcs let me show
you what i mean here's the back office
of my distributor let's look at this
instrumental album that i put out and
you'll see
my upc for the album is here
and the isrc
for the songs are here
for each song they'll have their own
identifying number once you have the upc
numbers and the isrc numbers you're
going to be good to go so now i'm going
to take these numbers and go back to my
ascap
account and go to the song so apart
inside the information of the song
there's all kinds of data you can put in
the most important are identifying
numbers like upcs and isrcs you go into
the performers another info tab
and you will plug this information in
you can always change this information
so say hypothetically i just got my
upc numbers or my src numbers
i can plug them in here see how this
number will match
this number
good to go i can add performers any
other information pertaining to the
track you can add to a lot of this is
just covering all the bases you're not
going to use a lot of this information
the most important things are the
writers the publishers and any kind of
isrc or upc code that they need once i
add or edit anything
i'm just going to save it or submit it
now all your performing rights
organization info is good to go and in
sync with your digital distributor the
next thing you want to do is give your
song and or album information to
soundscan now soundscan really works in
conjunction with billboard if you want
your song on the charts or any type of
chart
this will keep track of it for you all
the links to these websites will be down
in the description so you can just come
back to this video and use it as a
reference now when you're registering
with soundscan there are two different
options one is for a single and one is
for your album if you're just putting
out a single then it's really no big
deal just make sure the top of the page
that you're on says isrc registration
this is for a single and you're just
going to put in the appropriate
information and then verify and submit
now the sound scan for your album will
look very similar
on the top it'll say title registration
and it will want your album information
you're going to want to plug in all the
information that they need the upc
or the european code the ean whichever
your distributor uses it's really that
simple verify and submit and you're good
to go with soundscan the last thing
that's often overlooked these days is
registering your song with bds and
mediabase these are companies that will
detect
when your song is played on the radio
now don't just write off terrestrial
radio like it doesn't exist anymore
because this is what a lot of labels
that are looking for artists
look at this this type of data of who's
getting spins where and it's free for
you to upload to these websites so you
might as well do it making an account is
free and uploading is super simple you
literally just put in the title and the
artist upload the song it gets encoded
into their system and every time it's
played on the radio it's detected it's
valuable information for you as an
independent because you can set up an
account with bds to track your spins
what you do with that information can be
all kinds of different stuff you can see
what city is playing your song more and
then go tour there if you're trying to
get signed you can reach out with that
data to different labels and say look i
got these spins here i'm making moves
let's work something out a service very
similar to bds is media base
media base is the same type of principle
it's going to track your spins for you
on terrestrial radio regular radio if
i'm not mistaken mediabase is still a
clear channel or an iheart radio company
which is the biggest radio company in
the world so you want to definitely get
them your track information it's all
very simple
you put in all the appropriate
information upload your song and submit
it it's simple as that now that's most
of your admin work done i'm sure there's
a ton of other things that you could try
to look into i'm sure there's other
companies that will track royalties for
you from different services but these
are the basic services you want to get
familiar with before you start exploring
those other options now you have your
upc's your isrcs you're registered with
your pro now you can really start making
moves with the track and maybe reach out
to some licensing companies and get on
tv get on apps get on games if you get
into music licensing simply just google
music licensing companies and you'll see
all these different types of music
licensing opportunities whether it's
stock music or background music or
working with a company exclusively for
different placements you have all your
backend paperwork ready to go now you're
even ready for some radio promotion if
you look into something like play mpe
maybe they can help you out getting more
of a radio push if you're gonna work
with any of these companies it's good to
have all your back-end
admin work ready to go well i hope this
video helped you out if it did leave me
a like comment below on ways that you
get your back office straight before you
publish a song until the next one guys
peace jimmy jimmy make music music music
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