Archive
20 Questions for New Artists Part 2: Performing Rights Society Affiliation
[For the next few weeks, we’re going to post updated sections from the article “20 Questions for New Artists” by Chris Castle and Amy Mitchell which has been posted various places. This doesn’t constitute legal advice, or any intent to form the attorney-client relationship. (If you miss an installment, try searching this blog for “20 Questions for New Artists”.)]
There is a bit of strategy involved with affiliating with a songwriter performing rights society in the United States. PROs license and collect royalties for the performance right in your songs, such as a performance on television or radio or live music venues (including in some cases your own performances of your own songs). Each writer should affiliate with one of the societies although all members of a band or co-writers on a song don’t need to belong to the same society. This is why you see some songs with both ASCAP and BMI writers. We will discuss publishing and affiliating your publishing company with a PRO later. For now, just realize that your publishing company should be affiliated with the same PRO you are affiliated with as a writer.
All the societies have a creative staff. The decision to affiliate with a particular society should be made after the artist/writer has taken some meetings with the performing rights society and decided if there’s more love coming from one than another.
Most of the time we like to wait until the music is fairly well formed and the band has gelled into a working unit before approaching the societies unless there’s a reason to move more quickly, such as getting a film or TV license, or substantial radio/webcasting play. In more experienced bands, the writers will already have an affiliation, so it is a good idea to know this in advance for purposes of servicing the creative staff with new music, competing for slots on compilations and festival shows, etc.
The major U.S. performing rights societies are the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (http://www.ascap.com/), Broadcast Music, Inc. (http://www.bmi.com/), the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (http://www.sesac.com/) and Global Music Rights (http://www.globalmusicrights.com).
There are, of course, payment differences among the societies. For detailed background on PRO payments (and many other subjects) we recommend the book Music, Money and Success by Jeff and Todd Brabec available in paperback.
Copyright 2019 Chris Castle and Amy Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
20 Questions for New Artists Part 1: Bank Accounts/Tax Returns/Accountants
For the next few weeks, we’re going to post updated sections from the article “20 Questions for New Artists” by Chris Castle and Amy Mitchell which has been posted various places. This doesn’t constitute legal advice, or any intent to form the attorney-client relationship. (If you miss an installment, try searching this blog for “20 Questions for New Artists”.)
Bank Accounts/Tax Returns/Accountants: A common mistake that bands make is to have all income paid to one band member, which usually results in unnecessarily complex adjustments at tax time not to mention general distrust should disputes arise. This can be particularly vexing if the band wants to “fire” that band member whose got all the bank records–much better to have the band’s income and expenses paid from a neutral source. (We will come to “leaving members” later on.) Even though we will frequently speak of bands, solo artists should keep their business bank account separate,
Check with your bank branch to find out what the bank requires in order to open a bank account in the band’s name or the solo artist’s stage name (usually at least a “doing business as” or “dba” filing with a local government agency of some kind).
The band should find an accountant in your geographical area who is familiar with music issues and band accounting and take a meeting with that accountant (preferably a Certified Public Accountant who will file the band’s tax return). The band’s accountant should be able to advise you on questions such as the tax deductibility of expenses (recording sessions, haircuts, meals and travel, cell phones, etc.); insurance and financial liability issues (not surprisingly, liability issues substantially increase as soon as the band hits the road and starts driving); whether the band should lease or buy that new band van; and how to treat various income streams such as money received from investors, royalty income, merchandise, etc., as well as payment of sales tax, withholding and income tax.
Eventually, the accountant will be responsible for administering the band’s credit card, paying each band member their draw or salary, settling tours, and making sure any roadies or other employees are properly paid under state and federal tax laws.
See Also: Have you Registered with SoundExchange?
Copyright 2019 Chris Castle and Amy Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
@eLAWnora: The EU’s New Copyright Laws Won’t “Wreck the Internet”
[Excellent work by Eleonora Rosati in Slate on the EU Copyright Directive. This new legislation is important to creators around the world because it applies to the exploitation of all copyrights in Europe, not just European copyrights in Europe.]
On Tuesday, at the end of a process that lasted more than two and a half years, the European Parliament adopted the latest version of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market….
Critics have dubbed the directive a “censorship machine” that would harm free speech, impose new obligations on platforms that would be technically impossible for them to comply with, kill memes and GIFs, and ultimately “wreck the internet”….
These concerns are of course serious and need to be carefully considered, because the internet and the way it works are crucial to how we get and share information, and how we participate in culture. But it appears unlikely that this new EU law will irreparably harm the internet and our free speech online. In fact, contrary to these allegations, it makes users’ legal position safer than what is currently the case. In fact, in some cases, the directive will protect users from the risk of legal liability for sharing protected content.