VIPSTAND & Wallace Collins Ask PRO's "What is The Exact Royalty Formula?"

Today I was just randomly googling search terms and I saw this link pop up for a site I haven’t had a chance to visit called vipstand. I ended up opening a video on its site called “ You Are Watching: Publishing Deals and Performance Rights Organizations” (PRO’s) and decided to watch this video uploaded from one of my fav sites, artistshousemusic.org, with entertainment attorney Wallace Collins speaking because he appeared to be relaxed and ready to give us viewers some good insight into his point of view on publishing. 

I liked how he explained owning the copyright in a publishing deal and how much is typically divided in splits. He briefly went over how one may co-own the copyright and get 50 percent as the writer while the rest goes to the publisher and writer, an example of an average co-publishing deal. I didn’t realize how administration deals worked. They get commission for just collecting your money but it is straightforward calculation regardless of how much percent they get.

Collins says the X factor on the publishing side is the PRO’s (i.e ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) and how its not always clear how much they are taking from the money you may make on your songs. He said he has never been told a formula and how much percentage they get for calculating song royalties but he was not trying to indict any of them. I thought the system was doing a good job on tracking these numbers but apparently not! I have heard stories of people signed to separate PROS’s as songwriters and received different monies even when they worked and co-wrote the same record and had the same contract splits. I believe ASCAP is the way to go as far as the signed writer advantages I feel they have over the other two, but more details about them in a later post. That topic can go on for weeks!

 We will have better tracking systems in the future so you know you are getting your exact money the first time around and worldwide changes need to occur so the whole planet is in sync in royalty tracking because business is international. And you shouldn’t have to wait to see what your co-writer received on a record in a check to know you may have been cheated and for them (the PRO’s) to give you the difference. I will be checking out future videos on this site and even some old ones already uploaded about music publishing, indie labels, and copyrights (fun and informative videos alike) and so should you!

http://www.vipstand.me/en/online-videos/play/Us-beRRxYdk/Publishing-Deals-and-Performance-Rights-Organizations.html