I've been advised to join Soundexchange and started the app but it REALLY asks for a lot of personal info - ss# - bank account #'s drivers lic etc.I didn't fill it out yet but was wondering if anyone else has ?

with identity theft being what it is i'm paranoid about giving too much info out - why can't they use paypal instead of wanting ALL your banking info...seems odd - thoughts,opinions,experiences ?

bum..

Wow! no experience with it but no way would they get that kind of info out of me!

what makes it even stranger is they have a search engine to see if they owe you royalties - I searched under my name and my 3 past band names and nothing comes up - I've personally HEARD my music on FM radio,webstations and have had lots of plays on internet sites over the years - I even hit #1 in NY on mp3.com and broke the top 50 worldwide on mp3.com as well..i've had possibly hundreds of tracks on various websites streamed and got a ton of college and community radio play..


I just don't get this..I ran a Google search on Soudexchange and got some negative stuff but also got a lot of stuff saying they have ALL this $ and can't give it away...something's not right - can anyone enlighten me ?

bum..

Did you have a PRO at the time your songs where getting air play? did anyone promote you having cue sheets made up to track the plays?

that's a great question Ellwood - I joined ASCAP in 06 and did get some play on an ep I recorded that year but most of my play was prior to joining ASCAP..something should still show as i've registered pretty much all those tracks since then ?


I dunno..seems dangerous to give all that info out on the hopes I have a few bucks coming - bum

I think you are right Bum! I mean if it was a ton of money, maybe I would pursue it more but if not, that info is pretty deep they are asking for! anybody that you know that is a IT guy will tell you to watch it! these systems are not tight at all!

that's my concern...I know Soundexchange is legit but as you put it how "tight" are they ?

don't know why they just can't work with paypal...if I don't join I probably will miss out on some royalties as I have a bunch of tracks on compilations on the net right now that stream....any Soundexchange members out there ?

i'm on another forum and there are some sx members there.. they all say go for it. no problems. i'll be signing up this week. i wouldn't worry about it.

SoundExchange covers some specific situations that don't include terrestrial radio, and it sounds to me like some of your performances may have occurred before SE began collecting, so it's not surprising, if there's no ca$h on hand waiting for you. The very detailed info required is security that your royalties aren't being paid to someone else; you should definitely sign up, cuz something's better than nothing.

I met a VP of Sound Exchange at SXSW in March and one of the things he told me was this:

"The biggest reason people don't get paid is a lack of correct metadata." In other words, the track information is either incorrect or inconsistent with the information you provide them. So, perhaps those tracks had names misspelled, incorrect or missing altogether.

I'm wondering if the personal data has to do with government regulations. If they're paying you, they need to report that to the IRS and also they may need to prove your citizenship (the only reason I could thing they would need your DL#). But any info that would be on a W-2 or W-9 form is probably for those purposes.

HTH,
Debra