beachbum wrote:thanks Casey and yes it is the same library - I was on the fence about letting them handle it and posted here about it but got no response so I had to make a decision - from what I gather this placement is a documentary that will be aired on Tv.
My first bit of advice would be to be a little more patient with us here and give us some time to respond
...I saw your post and was going to reply but by the time I got back you had already pulled it. Remember some of us are also doing this full-time...writing music that is, not answering forum questions
...so we can't always drop everything to post an immediate reply. And of course neither could most people with a day gig.
The thing to keep in mind that 'airing on tv' can mean many things, so you have to try to make a determination what kind of total royalty potential there is...$20, $200, $2000?
Unless we're talking a feature placement on one of the major broadcast networks it's not gonna be $2000, and at the other extreme, if it's on PBS it's probably less than $20. So in the future you'd want to do a little research there before deciding whether you want to do the publisher's job...it really comes down to how much money is on the line and what your time is worth (i.e. if you ultimately would make more writing new music or recording other bands in the time otherwise spent on this admin stuff). Also, from your previous post it appeared that the library would only take 50% of the publishing (i.e. 25% of the total royalty pie), but now you seem to be saying they would take all of the publishing (i.e. 50% of the pie)...obviously this could be a significant difference and you should make sure you're clear on it before making a decision.
In this case, since you've already made the decision, here's what I would suggest:
1- find out what the first air date of the production would be. You may be able to find this out thru google and never even have to contact the company since you've got all the pertinent information.
2- Find out what your PRO's pay schedule is, in other words in which quarterly royalty distribution the royalties for the first air date should be paid and exactly when that distribution would occur.
3- If you're with ASCAP, keep an eye on the cue sheet section of your account. If no cue sheet shows up by about 2 months before the scheduled distribution, contact the production company and inquire. If you are with BMI or any other PRO, contact your PRO rep about 2 months before the scheduled distribution and ask if a cue sheet has been filed, if not, contact the company.
This would ensure that you don't do any unnecessary legwork (or make a pest of yourself by bugging them unnecessarily), and on the other hand if they didn't file on their own, should still give enough time to resolve the issue in time to get paid when you were originally supposed to.
as matto said, if the TV network files the cue sheet properly, as often is the case, not much for you to do anyway.
Just a correction here...it's the *production company* which produces a show that has to generate and file the cue sheet. The tv network/station that airs it typically has nothing to do with that, although they are the ones paying the PRO (of course they don't pay per cue, they pay per program or on an annual blanket basis)
HTH,
m
Casey