What's the advantage of moving to SESAC?

[claire]

The publisher isn't going to deal with performance royalties - that's strictly through the PRO. You should affiliate, though. It looks good on the resume and your business cards, it gives you a home base and writer reps who are there to help you, and it makes life easier when Chesney is up there on stage belting out your song - and it goes to #1 on the radio! Yeehaw Claire

[matto]

Mar 7, 2009, 11:35am, cameron wrote:I've had a single song offer from a publisher on one of my songs. Do I have to be affiliated with a PRO before I sign with a publisher?CamMost publishers require you to be affiliated; it's usually part of the contract.

[matto]

Mar 7, 2009, 1:32pm, jwebbinspired wrote:Cam, You should affiliate with a PRO soon. Even with any forwards on TAXI, just because you weren't contacted doesn't mean it hasn't been used. Publishers might not always "remember" to tell you about a placement. Your PRO's job is to keep track of that. You'll definitely want to affiliate soon if you're considering a single song contract.AndyPart of this is incorrect, a publisher cannot pitch your song without your permission, and a taxi forward is not permission. Unless you have been contacted and have been offered, and signed, a contract they cannot legally place your song.

[claire]

I'm not sure why a publisher would require you to be affiliated with a PRO. The publisher is taking your publishing, you're retaining your writer royalties (for mechanicals, not for performance) and there is a specific reference in the contract to the fact that the publisher is not responsible for the writer collecting performance royalties - those come from the writer's PRO. If the writer doesn't care enough about collecting performance royalties, why should the publisher require a PRO affiliation? The mechanical royalties from CD sales aren't going to amount to anywhere near as much as the performance royalties from radio play and live performances. For that reason alone, PRO affiliation is the professional way of taking care of business.

[matto]

Mar 7, 2009, 6:17pm, claire wrote:I'm not sure why a publisher would require you to be affiliated with a PRO. The publisher is taking your publishing, you're retaining your writer royalties (for mechanicals, not for performance) and there is a specific reference in the contract to the fact that the publisher is not responsible for the writer collecting performance royalties - those come from the writer's PRO. If the writer doesn't care enough about collecting performance royalties, why should the publisher require a PRO affiliation? The mechanical royalties from CD sales aren't going to amount to anywhere near as much as the performance royalties from radio play and live performances. For that reason alone, PRO affiliation is the professional way of taking care of business.Claire,in the case of the publishers I work with, they register the songs on behalf of their writers, and to do so they need the writer's CAE/IPI number. Which you only have if you are an affiliate of a PRO.The reason many publishers prefer to register on the writer's behalf is that most novice writers get confused by the registration process and thus may make a mistake and there may then be two registrations of the same song with conflicting information (one done by the publisher and one by the writer).Of course the prudent and professional writer will check their catalog from time to time to make sure the publisher(s) didn't make any mistakes when registering his/her songs.I routinely find mistakes in my (admittedly rather large) BMI catalog; not all are the publisher(s) fault of course, sometimes mistakes happen within the PRO itself, or are the result of faulty cue sheets.Of course this has just been my experience with the companies I do business with, other publishers may do things differently...

[matto]

And of course I forgot the most important reason, and that's that just about every publisher has separate ASCAP, BMI and SESAC publishing companies, and the songs they sign get assigned to the appropriate company/companies based on the affiliation of the writer(s).If a writer is not affiliated they don't know which company to assign it to and which PRO to register it with. If they assign it to, say, the ASCAP publisher and register it with ASCAP and the writer later decides to affiliate with BMI they have to reassign/re-register the title(s).So it's much better if they know at the time the contract is signed.

[claire]

Interesting, thanks. I didn't know that. I've signed songs with publishers when my cowriters weren't affiliated and it didn't seem to be an issue. Good to know.

[momof4]

this is only semi-related to this conversation, but i wanted to pipe in with my two cents about ASCAP, and that's that my hubby and i are having similar issues with them that you've had, Claire...i.e. they don't seem to care about you unless you're generating major income. in fact, in a recent conversation, they really just sounded annoyed to even be talking to us. i'm really disturbed to hear that this is a common thing and i think we may consider switching to a different PRO. being a country writer, Claire, does that impair you at all being with SESAC? if you have time to go into more details, here or in a PM, i'd really appreciate it! thanks!erin

[claire]

being a country writer, Claire, does that impair you at all being with SESAC? if you have time to go into more details, here or in a PM, i'd really appreciate it! thanks!----------------------------------------Hi. No, I think the impression that SESAC is primarily a CCM PRO is no longer true. SESAC represents all kinds of writers and has offices in Nashville and other major music cities. Particularly in Nashville, SESAC represents many country writers. Check out their website. My only complaint with SESAC is that they don't have enough parking in front of their building!Claire

[cameron]

Mar 7, 2009, 8:47pm, matto wrote:And of course I forgot the most important reason, and that's that just about every publisher has separate ASCAP, BMI and SESAC publishing companies, and the songs they sign get assigned to the appropriate company/companies based on the affiliation of the writer(s).If a writer is not affiliated they don't know which company to assign it to and which PRO to register it with. If they assign it to, say, the ASCAP publisher and register it with ASCAP and the writer later decides to affiliate with BMI they have to reassign/re-register the title(s).So it's much better if they know at the time the contract is signed.I've been thinking of joining SESAC, but my publisher only has BMI and ASCAP companies? Will that be an issue?Cam