German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

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Samwinski
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German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by Samwinski » Wed Jan 06, 2016 4:40 am

Hi there,
I got my first contact with library, so I have to register with a PRO.
Is there someone from Germany working with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC?
I want to avoid the GEMA :-) and c3s is waiting for concession.
Or do I have to swallow the GEMA pill?

Maybe there are some non-US members with experiences in this matter too?

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janbaars
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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by janbaars » Wed Jan 06, 2016 4:48 am

Hi Sam,

A Dutchie here.
Why do you want to avoid the German PRO?

Jan

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by melodymessiah » Wed Jan 06, 2016 5:39 am

the way i understand this, you register with the pro in your own country.

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by shorttonpro » Thu Jan 07, 2016 3:33 am

Foreign writers can certainly affiliate with a US based PRO as long as it is their only affiliation. All of the PROs have agreements with each other, so one will cover all territories.

It makes sense to register in the US if the majority of your contacts and placements are expected to be in the US territory. You would avoid a much longer waiting period for the funds to pass through to GEMA and keep a higher percentage as there as less companies take a cut.

On the other hand, if you'll be getting European cuts and placements, the process will be prolonged, you'll receive a bit less, and it may involve more initiative (letting the foreign deparments of BMI/ASCAP know about a work that should be earning in Europe).

GEMA is pretty strong so you'd be alright either way.

Check http://www.bmi.com/faq/category/international for more info.

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by Samwinski » Thu Jan 07, 2016 5:11 am

thank you for all the informations.
the reason I don't want to attend GEMA is: they demand the rights for all my music. I am also touring with a singer/songwriter duo, and this means we have to become more expensive or get less , because for every gig the venue or the organizer has to pay a GEMA charge. From this charge I (as the songwriter) will get around 10% after a year - that's not a good deal.

As far as I know: BMI and ASCAP members can exclude songs from the contract (?)

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by Samwinski » Thu Jan 07, 2016 11:11 am

does someone of you have experience with PRS?

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by andygabrys » Thu Jan 07, 2016 11:17 am

hmmmmm.....
GEMA is organized according to Vereinsrecht (de) (German law of association). It directly represents some 3,300 composers, lyricists, and music publishers as full members, along with approximately 6,400 more as members with sharply restricted rights and another 55,000 authors who have entered into a deed of assignment with GEMA without fulfilling the professional requirements for full membership. Members of this last group are termed "associated members" within the organization, but they do not enjoy the rights associated with membership under German law of association. As of 2010, GEMA also represents a further 2 million international rights-holders within Germany, through reciprocal arrangements with other performance rights organizations.[1][2]

Membership in GEMA is necessarily voluntary, since all usage rights (stemming from German authors' rights law) are reserved exclusively by the author. In contrast with copyright as it usually appears in common law, authors' rights are inalienable (i.e., non-transferrable), which means that the author can transfer only the exercise of these rights to another natural or legal person. Therefore, the author theoretically reserves the right to exercise her/his own rights or to transfer these duties to another third party (e.g., a collecting society or performance rights organization). The de facto situation remains in GEMA's favor, however, as all efforts to found a competing institution have thus far been hindered by the German Patent and Trademark Office, and the sole management of one's own authors' rights remains a daunting task for lone artists. The GEMA associates themselves with the NPD of Germany.

In order to be represented by GEMA, authors (i.e., composers and lyricists along with their publishers and heirs) must become a member and sign a deed of assignment (German: Berechtigungsvertrag) with GEMA, transferring the exercise and exploitation of media rights for the author's entire repertoire to GEMA. Member authors are entitled to apply for full membership after spending five years as extraordinary members, fulfilling the requirement of maintaining a payout-level from GEMA above a certain minimum value. Until then, they belong to the status category of “extraordinary member,” with limited voting rights (and usually a meagre share of fee revenues, ca. 4.8% in 2010). Other people, who are indeed authors but neither composers nor lyricists (nor publishers nor inheritors of authors), can also enter into a deed of assignment with GEMA; however, these authors cannot gain full membership, instead remaining so-called “associated members.” The overwhelming majority of those represented by GEMA have no access to membership status as defined and protected under the German civil code (see Articles 21–79), holding instead the pseudo-title of “associated member.” In 2010, approximately 24.11% of fee revenues were distributed to associated members.
BMI / ASCAP / SESAC don't hold any rights to any of the material that they "represent" or collect on.

And its establishments that play music (bar, restaurant, nightclub etc) that actually pay a "license" to BMI / ASCAP / SESAC for the right to broadcast music publicly through their sound systems at their establishment. In return, if I am playing my original material in a club for example, I can also register the performance with BMI LIVE and get royalties for playing my own material as well as getting paid for the gig from the club.

good luck!

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by janbaars » Fri Jan 08, 2016 2:08 am

Very good information.

How about prices?

BUMA in the Netherlands is a little under 100 euros per year. How much is a ASCAP?


Jan

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by Samwinski » Fri Jan 08, 2016 5:17 am

ASCAP:
What You'll Need to Apply
Your Social Security Number
(No SSN? We will also accept your foreign tax information)
Credit card (issued by a US bank) for payment of one time, $50 processing fee
http://www.ascap.com/join

BMI:
What is the fee to join as a songwriter?
Unlike some performing right organizations, joining BMI as a songwriter is free. There are no fees or annual dues of any kind for songwriters and composers.
http://www.bmi.com/faq/category/joining

SESAC:
Q: What does it cost to affiliate with SESAC?
There are no fees or dues if you are offered a SESAC affiliation.
http://www.sesac.com/WritersPublishers/faq.aspx

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Re: German member needs advice for choosing the right PRO

Post by Russell Landwehr » Fri Jan 08, 2016 7:51 am

Sam, I can't speak to how things are handled internationally, but I would like to note a couple of differences between ASCAP and BMI.

With BMI, you can register songs with an "excess writer's clearance" which means if you place something direct to supervisor and are due the publisher's portion of the royalties, you don't need to have a publisher's account. I believe with ASCAP, you would be required to pay for an additional publisher's acount.

With BMI, you won't see what your placements are until you get your quarterly payment. With ASCAP, you will regularly see cue sheets as they drop into the system.

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