No Cue Sheet Submitted

[aaronnorthern]

Hello good Taxi members!
I got my BMI statement recently, and I had a few pieces used in a few non US territories. Evidently neither one turned in a cue sheet, so I have no idea who, when, or where they were used. Anyone had success in finding out information when that happens? Any luck with TUNESAT or other sites for detection?

[telefunkin]

I find BMI statement info on non-US broadcasts to be limited and confusing, and correlating it with other info can be just about impossible. Tunesat detections (for example) are more or less instantaneous (when its working ) but it can take over a year for the same broadcast to show up on your statement, so unless there's something unique and identifiable about a particular broadcast then you might not pick it out on the statement. The delay could be due to late filing of cue sheets and compounded by some international PROs that share their information less frequently than every quarter (and it could be annually).

However, it seems unlikely you got paid without BMI knowing that a particular track was traceable to your IPI#. BMI display Cue Sheets under the show title rather than the track name, so you could try looking in your BMI account under Works Catalog, then for each of the Cue Sheets click on the arrow at the left to expand it, then click on the blue box that says 'View Background Cues Included In This Roll Up'. That will display the track names for your cues that were broadcast in the show. You might find the track that way.

[aaronnorthern]

Hey thanks Telefunkin for the quick response. Unfortunately I do not see the blue "'View Background Cues Included In This Roll Up" box you spoke of for either cue...or I'm just not looking correctly. I will call BMI tomorrow to see if they can point me to where it is, or maybe why I don't have it. Thanks a lot. Hopefully I'm not just out of luck on this one. It would be cool to know where my stuff was placed.

[Casey H]

Hi Aaron
Do you know the approximate dates of broadcast? It can take even 18 months (I've even heard of 2 years) for overseas broadcast royalties to make it to US PROs like ASCAP and BMI.

Curious: How did you find out about the usages to begin with?

Best,
Casey

[telefunkin]

Unfortunately I do not see the blue "'View Background Cues Included In This Roll Up" box you spoke of for either cue...or I'm just not looking correctly.

- Log into your BMI account.
- Look in 'Works Catalog' to see 3 columns:
...... 'Title' shows either the track name for tracks, or the show name for cue sheets.
...... 'Registration Origin' shows 'Registered' for registered tracks, or shows 'CueSheet' for cue sheets.
...... 'BMI Work#' shows either the registered work number for tracks or shows '0' for cue sheets.
- Look in the centre column labeled 'Registration Origin' for items classed as 'Cue Sheets'.
...... If you only see 'Registered' tracks then click on the 'Registration Origin' label once or twice and it will bring all 'Cue Sheets' to the top of the list (if you have any).
...... Alternatively, you could click on the 'BMI Work#' label once or twice to bring '0' to the top, ie cue sheets.
- Click on the twisty arrow at the left of any cue sheet's title and it will expand to reveal 'Song Details'.
...... That's where you'll find the blue box labelled 'View Background Cues Included In This Roll Up'.
- Click on that box to see track names.

I hope that helps.

[aaronnorthern]

Thanks everyone. Good information Casey. The usage was on my last BMI statement. @telefunkin I did exactly that and still no blue box. I called BMI, and the agent looked and saw the same as I did. He is having someone look in to whats going on. I appreciate your help on this. Now I know much more.

[VanderBoegh]

Wow, I find it highly unlikely that BMI would have paid you anything without someone turning in a cue sheet. Granted, I don't know all the in's & out's of how the PRO's operate, but I do know that cue sheets are really the only way they're able to track what music was used, where, for how long, etc.... and then determine what the payout rate should be for you.

So, like I said, without a cue sheet it seems very doubtful that BMI would have paid you anything at all. Someone must have turned one in to their foreign PRO, and then that payout info was sent over to BMI. You'll rarely ever see cue sheets for non-US placements for some reason, even though they MUST exist (chances are they're in a foreign language that would need so much translation that makes it not worth the effort for BMI to do that). So, you're most likely embarking on a cue sheet rabbit chase that will leave you empty-handed at the end of the day. Keep us posted though, as I'd love to hear what you find out.

And hey, at least you got paid!

~~Matt

[aaronnorthern]

@VanderBoegh IKR. Trust me, I have come to grips I may not ever find out. Maybe on the next statement (if I'm lucky) the info. will be there. I'm hopeful BMI will get back to me on it, and I will be sure to keep you guys posted. Thanks for the reply. It's great to have folks who know the process lend a hand. You are right, at least I got paid.

[cosmicdolphin]

Spend the money and don't worry about it