Pros and cons of BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, etc

[ivoryfantasy]

I have just signed up with Taxi and they are telling me I need to be a member of one of these 'rights' organizations.
I wonder if those of you who are members of them can tell me a little bit about the pros and cons of each. What do you like or dislike about them?

Thanks

[Tim_Behrens]

This seems to be one of those topics that is everywhere, all the time, and yet there is really not much in the way of strong opinions to find. Do a search here at the Taxi forums, and at jpfolks.com, and you'll find a lot of different thoughts.

I just affiliated with BMI, for a couple of reasons. One, it's free to sign up as a writer (ASCAP is $35) and the whole process only took about a week. At ASCAP, you need to sign up as a publisher (also $35) if you want to collect the publisher's share of royalties. At BMI, you can claim the publisher share in the absence of any other listed publisher, even if you aren't signed up as a publisher. If you do want to sign up as one at BMI, it's $150 for an individual, $250 for a partnership.

The general consensus that I've seen is that they all do a fairly good job and get about the same results. If one were much greater than the other, you'd probably hear about it. Anywhere you look, you'll find good experiences and bad, for any company that you look into.

Anyways, I don't think you can go too wrong, either which way you choose.
Hope that helps,

[T&V Marino]

We love BMI, but we just found out a few weeks ago (after being members for several years) that they do NOT pay ANY back-end on music that's been placed in commercials. This is such a bummer because we've gotten a lot of placements in commercials around the world and haven't received one penny in royalties. ASCAP, on the other hand, DOES pay back-end on commercials, and apparently, they pay very well.

On the other side of the coin, regarding placements in film/TV, we know of a few instances where a BMI friend co-writes with an ASCAP member. Many times when they get a placement in a show, the BMI writer gets a check for a slightly higher amount. So, it does even out in the long run.

Ironically, TAXI is leaning more toward getting placements in commercials, so if that's the direction you're going in, do your research!!!!

Good luck!

~ Tracey & Vance