The following is an interview with James Aviaz of SongTrust. SongTrust collects royalties on behalf of the artist from multiple sources internationally. This saves you the time and legwork of having to track down multiple organizations, register your music with them all, and then navigate how you will get paid.
Since I’m a newbie when it comes to collecting royalties, I tried to ask questions I think would be of interest to everyone. The only part I was disappointed by was getting the info on what the typical artist gets paid out. But, that seems to be the murkiest of all questions in the music biz! Ah well…enjoy!
If I’m signed up to BMI and SoundExchange, why would I need Songtrust?
Songtrust helps songwriters collect all their publishing royalties. Being affiliated with BMI is an awesome start, but there’s more out there for writers to do in order to register their songs and collect all royalties.
For instance, Songtrust is able to register your songs with HFA (Harry Fox Agency), who are responsible for mechanical royalties and the royalties relating to Spotify. There’s also Music Reports, who collect and distribute royalties from places like Rdio.
As an independent songwriter, it can be difficult to ensure you’re able to correctly register songs with those aforementioned agencies. And the headache is multiplied when trying to collect royalties from abroad on your own.
If a band signs up for the $100 level, do you let them know if they are also receiving money globally and would benefit from the $250 level membership?
We rely on clients to keep us updated about their careers. If all of a sudden they blow up in Germany, we need them to let us know – and from there we can investigate further.
Say a band has just recorded their first album (or even a single). What should the band have in place before approaching Songtrust? (copyrights, etc)
It’s not really a question of what the band should have in place after they’ve recorded – it’s really what the band needs to do after they’ve written a song. As soon as a band is done writing a song they should discuss the writing share that each member is claiming for the song. Once this is decided, they should join Songtrust.
Songtrust will help get the band get affiliated with a Performance Rights Organization and will register songs with all the collection societies. The band should do this before rushing to their blog, Twitter, Tumblr, Soundcloud, etc. to post the song.
There are just a few steps every songwriter/artist/band needs to do before releasing their music to the world. Songtrust will help them through this process.
What is the average yearly payout from Songtrust to individual artists/bands?
It’s tough to say and depends on each individual circumstance. It really depends on each writer’s success with his or her music getting played on-air, online and in TV/film.
When should a band consider Songtrust? Obviously, an unknown band isn’t making enough sales to even recoup the yearly cost.
If someone is even remotely serious about making music, they need to do a few things after they’ve written a song. Figure out songwriting splits, joining a PRO, and registering your song. Songtrust helps do all of these things correctly, so our bands don’t have to stress about this side of the process and can just worry about making music.
What happens when a band enters in a cover song or a song with samples?
Cover songs don’t have to be registered with Songtrust because when a band covers another artist’s song they don’t get any writing/publishing credit for the cover.
If a band is going to sample another artist’s material, that band needs to make sure they clear the sample with the original publishers before releasing or registering the new song anywhere.
Why doesn’t each level of membership include international coverage?
International collection can be very difficult and will not always make financial sense for both the writer and us. That’s why we’ve kept international collection for writers that are further along in their career, as they’re most likely to earn enough to justify the yearly cost.
How does Songtrust handle uncollected royalties? Let’s say a band has had a song out for a few years before joining Songtrust. Would there be back-royalties due to the artist?
Again, this depends. The ability of collection societies to back pay varies. And when you factor in overseas collection, the picture can be even less clear. As a general rule in the US, we’re able to collect royalties generated up to two years ago.
Where does the greatest percentage of royalties come from? Where should artists focus their attention on putting their music for the maximum return?
That’s tough to say. We are definitely collecting a good amount of royalties from film and TV licenses and also live concert performances.
From working with artists at Songtrust, what advice do you have for musicians?
It’s really important that artists/songwriters/musicians have an understanding of what needs to get done after they’ve written a song and what it actually means once they’ve created this new copyright (song).
Songtrust will break down all of this, as music publishing can be very confusing.
There are so many great ways for artists to promote their music these days, but before doing that, they should make sure they take care of some business first.
Anything else you would like to add?
We’re always excited to take questions about music publishing and royalty collection. If your readers have any questions, hit us up: help@songtrust.com
Interesting info. Shameless pitch.
They do seem to hedge a bit when talking about actual dollars & cents an artist might collect. I know that BMI, ASCAP, & SESAC dole out royalty money based on Billboard 100 charts & airplay in the major U.S. markets. If you are a band doing primarily live shows & selling your recordings at those shows, you can’t expect to see much of anything from those PRO’S. I would be hesitant to assume anything other than Songtrust gets their $100 & the artists still get next to nothing. The 3 major PRO’s charge nothing to artists for membership, in fact BMI & ASCAP are nonprofits. They gather money to distribute royalties from venue operators such as myself who pay for the right to operate a juke box, have live shows, or host karaoke. Makes me wonder why Songtrust needs to charge the artists who aren’t making any money off their music anyway.
I think Songtrust is best used when a musician hits a certain level with their music. They are basically just doing all the legwork a musician would have to do themselves. Plus, the cost isn’t that much at all.
But I get your point. Seems like there’s more services to pay for than money being received! haha!
By the way, I miss hanging out with ya, Steve. I need to make a trip to Oak Harbor again soon!
Miss you too, Seth. D.O.A. will be here July 7. You should come up.
Hell yeah!