ASCAP Cue Sheet Discrepencies

[brianleewheat]

About a year ago I discovered an error in an ASCAP cue sheet that involves two of my tracks that were uploaded into the TuneSat database for detection. TuneSat detected that Prancing Elite Project (ASCAP Series Code 80062), played two of my tracks on Program 210 (Program Code: 3230114): "Above All Else" (Work ID 888855838) played for approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds and "Falling Upward" (Work ID 888855820) played at the very end of the show for approximately 2 minutes. According to TuneSat, this episode aired 7 times (March 22 2016 @ 9 pm and 11 pm; March 23 2016 @1 AM and 6 AM; March 24 2016 @ 12 AM and 1:30 PM and June 29 2016 @ 12 PM).

I bought the episode on Amazon and have verified that my songs were played exactly as Tunesat detected. However, the ASCAP Cue Sheet submitted by the production company lists that only one of my tracks, (ASCAP work ID 890268439) was played for 10 seconds. My payment from ASCAP has since reflected this single 10 second performance. Needless to say, three and a half minutes of placement is a significant difference from the 10 seconds reported. As you all know, every dollar counts in this business.

I have been working to no avail with my Music Library ell as ASCAP for over a year to get this resolved. My music library said the production company has long since moved on to bigger and better things and it seems the placement royalties are "too small" to motivate ASCAP and the music library to track down and correct the error. They both point to each other as who I need to work with to get it resolved. Hence, Nothing has been done. Last week I attempted to contact TuneSat for help but when I used the contact form on their website, I get a error saying that the address is no longer in service.

Anybody in the Taxi Forum have suggestions on how I might go about getting the royalties I earned?

Thanks so much for the feedback and or suggestions,
Brian Wheat

[DesireInspires]

Welcome to the club!

Unfortunately, you may never get paid for those usages. I filed six inquiries with ASCAP back in October 2017. I have only received confirmation that I will get paid for one of the inquiries. I was told that I will not be paid for one inquiry because ASCAP did not catch the placement in their survey. The other four are still open.

Don't feel bad. You didn't do anything wrong.

[jdstamper]

I had something similar happen with a placement. I contacted BMI a couple times to follow up. Once I had a BMI person on the phone, she checked on it right then and said it was probably a mistake, that is it was likely not my track in the first place. Afterward I verified it was definitely my track and was in the show. Like you, I bought the episode from Amazon.

I haven't decided whether to raise it with BMI again. In my case, there's not much money involved, but I'm with you that this is very frustrating. I can understand why it's hard for the PRO's to follow-up when they must get a lot of these inquiries. I have a feeling there is a lot of manual processing involved start to finish in the royalty process, creating / filing cue sheets, etc. It seems way past due for automation ... but I'm just guessing.

Good luck, Jim