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Can someone explain to me the sequence of events that take place once a song has been licensed? Let's say you have a song in a library that gets picked up by a t.v. program. Does the license fee that gets split between you and the library get paid out immediately or can that be a waiting game? I realize the back end royalties take several months to show up.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
eo.

eeoo wrote:Can someone explain to me the sequence of events that take place once a song has been licensed? Let's say you have a song in a library that gets picked up by a t.v. program. Does the license fee that gets split between you and the library get paid out immediately or can that be a waiting game? I realize the back end royalties take several months to show up.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
eo.

There can be a waiting period because (1) you have to wait until the library gets paid which isn't always right away.... (2) Different libraries have different payment schedules such as quarterly, sem-annually, etc... So it could take a few months or more before you get paid. I'm sure it varies a lot from situation to situation and library to library.

I had music released on a DVD about 1-2 months ago which earned a license fee. The library told me I probably won't receive a check until the end of the year.

Casey

It usually takes a few months to get the license fee share, for the reasons mentioned by Casey.

If you've got a library with semi-annual accounting and a slow paying client it can take longer.

The time it takes to get paid anything (licensing or royalties) once music has been licensed is among the more frustrating aspects of a songwriter or composers livelihood (and no different if you have traditional record cuts either), especially in the early going and if you depend on that money to pay bills...

Thanks guys, appreciate it.
eo.