As you may have heard from Panos, Sonicbids has partnered with SoundExchange to identify over 10,000 Sonicbids members that are owed $4 million in digital performance royalties. Now, you may be asking yourself a few questions here, so allow me to lend a hand. Or, you can log into your account and jump right to the list of bands owed money by clicking on the yellow box at the top of your artist account.
Whoa, is this legit? Yesiree. SoundExchange is a non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio (such as SIRIUS XM), internet radio (Pandora, Yahoo, Live 365.com and AOL) and digital cable and satellite TV services like Comcast’s “Music Choice” and DirecTV. The Copyright Royalty Board, which is appointed by The U.S. Library of Congress, has entrusted SoundExchange as the sole entity in the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties on behalf of featured recording artists, master rights owners (like record labels), and independent artists who record and own their masters.
I’m already a member of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. Don’t they cover this for me? ASCAP, BMI and SESAC represent a different copyright than SoundExchange. ASCAP, BMI and SESAC collect performance revenue for the owners of the copyrighted musical work (the song), i.e. music publishers, songwriters and composers. SoundExchange collects performance revenue for owners of the sound recording copyright (the recording) and for featured and nonfeatured artists. SoundExchange, therefore, performs a different function and does not compete with ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. In fact, a company with both publishing (”song”) copyrights and recording copyrights should join collecting societies administering both types of rights: one for the song and another for the sound recording copyright.
And what we know your REALLY want to hear….How do I know if I’m owed money? We’ve created a list of Sonicbids members we’ve identified with SoundExchange that are owed digital performance royalties. To see the list, you can log into your artist account and click on the yellow box at the top of your account homepage.
My band is on the list! Now what? You can register with SoundExchange here to claim your royalties (it’s secure, fast and free). From there, you’ll fill out a short form to get claim your royalties.
If you have more questions about SoundExchange, take a look at the FAQs on the SoundExchange site or contact Sonicbids Member Relations at http://sonicbids.com/support
If you want to read more about other ways that Sonicbids helps independent artists, check out www.sonicbids.com/supportsindiemusic.
Cheers!
Tess