Project is brewing - how much money would I make?

[kevinmathie]

I just got home tonight from a meeting with a producer colleage of mine. This producer produces live events, and we've had a great working relationship for years.Everything we've done up until now has been live events (concerts, theatre, etc.), but we have one live project that we're talking about taking to the next level. We're talking about getting this production ready to get filmed for broadcast on PBS. Without a doubt, our local PBS affiliates will air the concert, what with the buzz already in the community, but I think that with some adjustments it could be of the quality that would be interesting to PBS affiliates nationwide. (Think along the lines of the "Celtic Women: A New Journey" concert that has aired on PBS).There would be between 20 and 22 different songs, all written/arranged/orchestrated by me (right now we have 21 songs). The deal will probably be that I get the writer's royalties, but not the publishing -- or at least not all of it.So, based on the information I've given you so far, what sort of revenue streams should I expect if this project goes through? And how much money could I reasonably expect to make with such a project? Mostly I'm curious about the revenues I'd make from ASCAP, rather than what I'd make from album sales, which I'm more familiar with.For example, what would be ballpark dollars if only one of our local PBS affiliates airs the program once? What about if the majority of PBS affiliates nationwide ended up airing the program once?Thanks in advance for your help. This side of the music business is so foreign to me!Do you have any advice for what to look out for when drafting a contract for all this?

[matto]

Quote:I just got home tonight from a meeting with a producer colleage of mine. This producer produces live events, and we've had a great working relationship for years.Everything we've done up until now has been live events (concerts, theatre, etc.), but we have one live project that we're talking about taking to the next level. We're talking about getting this production ready to get filmed for broadcast on PBS. Without a doubt, our local PBS affiliates will air the concert, what with the buzz already in the community, but I think that with some adjustments it could be of the quality that would be interesting to PBS affiliates nationwide. (Think along the lines of the "Celtic Women: A New Journey" concert that has aired on PBS).There would be between 20 and 22 different songs, all written/arranged/orchestrated by me (right now we have 21 songs). The deal will probably be that I get the writer's royalties, but not the publishing -- or at least not all of it.So, based on the information I've given you so far, what sort of revenue streams should I expect if this project goes through? And how much money could I reasonably expect to make with such a project? Mostly I'm curious about the revenues I'd make from ASCAP, rather than what I'd make from album sales, which I'm more familiar with.For example, what would be ballpark dollars if only one of our local PBS affiliates airs the program once? What about if the majority of PBS affiliates nationwide ended up airing the program once?Thanks in advance for your help. This side of the music business is so foreign to me!Do you have any advice for what to look out for when drafting a contract for all this?Bad news Kevin ...the royalties PBS pays can only be described in one word: Laughable. I've had several pieces on major PBS shows which are carried by all PBS affiliates from coast to coast (such as "Masterpiece Theatre"), and I've found that I got paid about 4c per minute of background music per affiliate (for 100% writer's). So even if a full feature song pays 10 times that, and you have 20 songs in the show...you'd only make a few hundred bucks total IF the show goes nationwide. Maybe a thousand if there are rerunsSadly, you'd almost be better off having your music on even obscure cable channels like "The Golf Channel" ...By comparison, if this same concert was carried on a major broadcast (not cable) network (ABC, CBS, NBC), you'd make around 25-30k nationwide total per airing...so something like 100 times what you'd get on PBS...(!).Sorry for the bad news .matto

[kevinmathie]

Matto,Wow! That's crazy! But, at least it's good to know.I guess that kills my excitement about the money, although it'd still be a nice credit for me if the project goes to that level. Thanks for responding, matto. I appreciate it.Kevin