Not sure where my License fee is?

[stevecollom]

Back in Oct - Nov 2010 i got an email from one of my publishers and he told me one of my songs was used and they paid a license fee.

Should i get be expecting it from my publisher or through my PRO 6-9 months later (or whatever timeframe)

im gonna shoot an email over to my publisher pretty soon, but wanted to have a little bit more information about it.

any info would help thanks guys

steve

[mazz]

The publisher would pay you. It might say in the contract with your publisher how long it takes to pay. Oftentimes clients pay 90 days out which means the publisher may have just gotten paid. If the publisher pays 30 days after that then you might be getting a check soon. I don't think it would hurt to ask, but check your contract first.

PROs don't handle license fees, I believe. I could be wrong.

[Casey H]

Yes, (at least in the US), license fees are not handled by PRO's such as BMI or ASCAP. Your publisher should collect the fee and pay you your share according to what their payment schedule is. Definitely check with them.

Two things to keep in mind. (1) A publisher can't pay you until they get paid and sometimes there are delays- sometimes many months with respect to their getting paid from the client. (2) Different publishers have different payment schedules, usually explained in the contract. Some pay every quarter, some twice a year, some annually, etc. So between the delay in the publisher collecting and the delay to the next payment cycle, many months is not unusual.

However, nothing wrong with checking in with them to get an idea of when you should expect payment. In fact, I had a license fee placement in mid-2010 and just send a follow up to the publisher about payment. They said I would be paid in 4Q2010 and with it being almost Feb '11 & no payment received, I thought I'd touch base.

Congrats on the placement!
Casey