COMPOSERs, PUBLISHERs and PROs, Oh my!

Dear Music Producers,

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and READ THIS NOW!

Here is "the deal". I noticed some of you guys are not signed up to any PROs. Even if you make music "as a hobby" you should be still registering your music with these guys and and copyrighting your music (copyright topic for later).

YOU NEED To become a "writer and publisher", there are two, at the ASCAP, or at the BMI or some other PRO (performing rights organization) place...the membership is expensive...a whopping...hold your breath, you might not be able to afford this...$70 for a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP!!!...(that's $35 for writer and $35 for publisher) I know..It's like they are robbing us?!? No they are not, this is the most important part of this ENTIRE process...read on.

Ok, my amateur and hobbyists friends why do you need this?...(this includes me, because I just signed up myself by the way, the registration process takes about 15 days) Do it TODAY!

So now when you edit your song on pond5. You will see two white boxes that say COMPOSER and PUBLISHER. Most of you have Composer down, that's you (but this makes no difference if you do not REGISTER). Who published your song?? Don't know do you? That's because the answer is YOU! You published it! (this is why you register, you get 50% for writing your tune and 50% publishing it) And then a text window that says....PRO. Anyone following me? That's where you put ASCAP or BMI Here is how this works to my understanding. Please know this is a complicated mess since the invention of, the record.

Ok, here we go, say you sold a copy of your royalty free music here at pond5 for an incredible 5 dollars...pond5 takes their cut of OH MY GOD $2.50!! AHHHhh All my money!!!! Please read on...

So now your tune is out there being used, WITHOUT being registered....THIS is your MISTAKE and mine...don't get me wrong...there is a reason I am telling you this and it's not because I am trying to sell you something. I am trying to help you so we ALL can make a nice living off of our hobby, soon to be careers.

Listen, what if I told you that once your tune is broadcast on a national TV commercial or radio ad or something other form of HIGH-END broadcast, These companies already set aside money, HUGH SUMS OF MONEY....right...go on Nathan...Ok...so what happens when Producer Joe that bought your royalty-free music broadcasts on TV? Well...those companies MUST pay...you heard me MUST pay to use ANY and ALL content. So..You sold your "royalty-free tune" but alas! Once it is broadcast there is no such thing as "royalty-free", it hits tv and radio and guess what...CBS pays one of the PROs royalties even IF you are not registered....WHAT??? I know, I know...Where was this information yesterday?

Is anyone listening to me? If you are then your whole world just took the "EXIT to SUCCESS"...You can thank me later.

Why am I telling you this? Wouldn't it make sense to watch you all fail and keep this to myself..NO! Listen you need to start making some money. Lots of it. We the little guys are hurting our own market. Please, let us all start informing ourselves. There is a way to do this and it is not as hard as I once thought.

Royalty-free is perfect for your "amateur producers" (these guys don't know any of this either, by the way, well maybe some but then they wouldn't be amateurs.) looking to make money from a very LOW budget company. But once they "AIR" that production, the BROADCAST COMPANIES, pay with their HUGE SUMS OF MONEY...not Joe....They pay the PROs. And the PROs pay....YOU. What? You didn't register...oh...well, then guess what...the PROs KEEP YOUR MONEY!!!

Got this? Read this twice...Dream about this...let this sink in. This is going to change the way you view making music from now on.

If not...go ahead, make your non-PRO music, I know I have been making non-PRO music all along, but guess what. AS soon as I get my membership. BOOM all my songs are being registered and copyrighted and I am changing EVERY track on all those marketplaces that I have been so hard at work adding all my non-PRO music too. Who is with me?

Sincerely your friend and colleague,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

Just to get you thinking in case you skipped my post.

Most commercials on TV: the background music. For say a one year license, might go for...75k to 250k. A YEAR! I am only talking for national markets in the US. The BROADCAST COMPANIES pay PROS this, not our good buddy JOE. UNDERSTAND? JOE doesn't make any of this money. Joe makes money by finding the right music, the right video and the right idea and the RIGHT CLIENT, and says I'll do that for X amount of dollars....Even if Joe used your music FOR FREE...all you need him to do is fill out a CUE SHEET (pond5 and many others do this AUTOMATICALLY, for producers just like Joe) with you as the COMPOSER and PUBLISHER and, BAM! YOU CLAIM YOUR MONEY once it is on TV, radio, film..the list goes on.

A Film Intro, say 3.5 mins of music, might go for .... 350k to 500k. and the credits, well maybe 150k.

Last year I sold about 8 tunes. I am pretty happy. It made me invest a bunch of money into new studio equipment so I can make even better music this year. But this year I am going PRO, I am going to have my tunes on TV anyway, why not claim it! It's SO easy! Put some damn food on the table Go PRO! Let's do this already!


Hope your all having a good weekend,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

I don't like doing this, but if you want the nitty-gritty and cannot search for yourself on google, "What is royatly-free music" then here is a link to Wikipedia about music and royalties and such,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_music

Seriously, I want all non-PRO music producers...to truly take a look at what (myself included) we have been doing. Read the part about royalty-free music yet?

Do IT!

"These libraries (<-- THAT'S YOU!) depend mainly on performance royalties for their income <-- WHAT YOU ARE LOSING! (with a small amount of income from sales of physical CDs or online track downloads). <-- THIS IS pond5..."

"Assuming that the music is broadcast, royalties are paid on the music, though it is the broadcaster, not the customer, who pays them via annual fees to the performing rights societies." <-- THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!

BE SURE TO READ THIS, DIGEST IT, and tomorrow when you tell someone you are a music composer...you'll know what you are talking about...ok? Please, for your Families sake. Don't be the guy that had his song heard during that awesome commercial and you made $2.50. Your time, effort and creativity are worth so much more and THEY WANT TO PAY YOU. It is your part to REGISTER.

Glad you approve now. Go PRO Go PRO! Go PRO!

There is enough money, for me, you and everyone else at pond5. And when you have all that money, PLEASE send me and my family some good vibes, some good wishes, after all, it is this post you are reading that is going to change it all for you.

It's 2013, it's time to go PRO.

By the way, once you are member of some PRO you have to REGISTER each song in your library with the PRO of your choice. Ok? EACH SONG you want to be credited to you. And you have to search up how to copyright you music. DO IT! NOW, TODAY!

IT's SO Freaking EASY! I copyrighted 3 CDS jammed with production music for $135.00 by myself, it is so simple. Fill out a stupid form, stick your cd inside and forget it. 6 months later you have you music completely and utterly copyright protected. Come on! You can do this, too! Don't be fooled into thinking that it's to hard or to much. Listen I have been self-employed for 10 years, and my friends, goto work for some other self-employed person. Do you know the difference? KNOWLEDGE. THIS IS SO EASY. They don't know "how to start a business" did you know it's so simple, you could DO IT TODAY?

And I don't know if any of you noticed but if your thinking. Nah, It won't be broadcasted. Non-sense.

http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=242600

pond5 is almost a guarantee during the credits on TV these days. Keep your eyes peeled. Those background tracks on TV are...played for about 3-8 seconds, each video clip on tv has about what...6-10 music clips in it. Reality shows are fueled with music just like we make. It's a shame to watch some us fall into the ... I don't want to, because I don't know how.

And please someone with more knowledge then myself. POINT US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION! This is it folks. This is what all the creative efforts on your part has been. To make it and make it big. Well at least that's mine.

Put an end to the pond5 takes 50% of the profits. CRAP. Pond5 provides you and me with producers that NEED music. I would be happy to give all my music away for free as long as you producers BROADCAST it!

THANK YOU pond5! You are going to make me SO MUCH MONEY! I really hope your non-PRO eyes have shifted a bit, listen, there are other places that LAUGH at us non-PROs. What are you going to tell Lexus? You make music for 20 bucks? COME ON! They will want to know what PRO your with and your going to look as foolish as I did yesterday. It's time to really understand how you, me and everyone else that is here can and could be making ALOT more than, 50% at pond5.

Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

I didnt undrestand why so much noise?

Most people knows that its better to have PRO, but its not so nessesary. I saw people who sell their audio pretty well, without having PRO. What will be with their audios later (as they without PRO) I think its already their problem, because everyone could own this song later, so...

hi.
i read the wikipedia article and it says that part of the income is the performing rights, that are paid not by the producer but by the broadcaster. this broadcaster pays the money to ascap/bmi/pro and this pro then distributes 50% of the performance income to the producer and 50% to the composer.
so, in the end, although you get more money by registering with a pro, so does the publisher, pond5 in this case.
so the discontent remains: pond5 and the likes of it, take 50% of the income my work generates. and why??
i cant deal with the idea that someone having a site that hosts composers' music will take 50% of their work doing absolutely nothing in the composing work itself. isnt it enough that the state robs us by taxing us on that income? i mean cmon, if i make 10000 as income in a year, and split it in half with a rf-site, that leaves me with 5000., then comes taxes and im left with only 3000 or something like that. where is the justice in that??? my work is worth 10000 and yet i only get 3000 . wtf? i mean REALLY, wtf??

Dear Nawak, LivingroomClassics and my fellow musicians,

Ok...Let's say we both made some gold widget worth 10k...and your widget was exactly like mine only mine said "NATHAN LUIS STEINKE"...yours says..."UNKNOWN". We sell our widgets to the same person who uses our widgets the exact same way but when it comes time to pay the proper fees (which are already in place), I am going to get my fees, because I said...HERE I AM! I made that widget! You say, I made a widget too, but, you didn't engrave your name on your widget. So the money that you would've received goes to the PROs, and the PROs go, ah well, another UNKNOWN!

Any stock media marketplace that is trying to stop you, convince you that registering your music with a PRO is a mistake, or otherwise not accepting PRO music is a scandal. Sure you can make MONEY, but...at what cost. Listen you should be thinking about this the other way around. You are paying up to 70% to these marketplaces to put your music in TV Commercials, that's why they are charging you 50% to 70% to license your music. Come on, your not going to say I MADE THAT? It is a rip off IF you have non-PRO music. THINK ABOUT IT! Please.

Does anyone reading this know what PRO is?

Listen the worse part is misinformation - sadly, due to the flux in independent artist, like myself, we don't have the understanding of the structure that is in place for us. That is why all the noise. We need to SAVE our industry. Do you want to make money selling music, say 10 years from now? If everyone sold their music for 1$ at some stock media place...WE are all F*cked.

pond5 is NOT THE PUBLISHER!!!! You are COMPOSER/PUBLISHER unless you don't REGISTER as a publisher. What do you think PUBLISHER means? You compose music, then you PUBLISH it and then you add it to all those wonderful media marketplaces. You are all making a grave mistake, including myself, and I really have a hard time watching my fellow musicians go down a DARK and lonely road. I want to shed some light on this, just like I wanted someone to shed the light for me. But guess what. Not one single stinking person in the entire universe said, Nathan you are a fool thinking that your wildest dreams are going to come true by selling your music at rock bottom prices, I myself, as a non-PRO musician am ruining the music industry, and I want to stop and I want as many people to stop and think about what you are doing.

You get 50% for being the composer and 50% for being the publisher. That's 100% if you put me down as the publisher then I would get 50%. And this MEANS something when there is a PUBLISHER, ie someone you want to say thanks for publishing my work, here's 50%. Anyone putting your MARKETPLACE as the publisher STOP! STOP! STOP! Go back and change all your uploads.

YOU ARE COMPOSER. YOU ARE PUBLISHER.

LivingroomClassics, your right. You have to pay taxes on the money you make. That's life. You have to pay taxes on that $5 dollars you made from non-PRO too. If you don't beware.

BROADCAST COMPANIES pay -> PROs pay -> 50% to writer and 50% to publisher. YOU and YOU again. It's not as hard as it is scary to think...You went PRO..You can still sell you music as royalty-free, as long as you don't grant EXCLUSIVE rights to someone. And listen IF you grant exclusive rights...MAKE YOUR ROYALTIES!

I am not telling you this because I work for the PROs or any non-sense. I only wish, you and I, play the same game so we both can WIN BIG. Musicians reading this...we are not in competition with each other. Each SECOND is already bought and paid for. All I care about is, when I am being paid for my SECONDs...please don't sell it for a $1! OK?

The music business has been here, before many of you were born, this includes me, so it's our duty as members of this business to DO IT RIGHT and I believe with knowledge and little push, we all can achieve our wildest dreams. Otherwise My fingers and going to bleed with the amount of music I need to make in order to buy a candy bar.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.s. Again, your producer friends do not pay these royalties. The broadcasters HAVE to pay it to the PROs. It is the WAY this works. You nor I are going to change that. So why not play by their rules! Enjoy the Suberbowl everyone and if you hear your non-pro music during those million dollar commercials...You'd wish you had it REGISTERED!

hi.
man u really are passioned about making us aware.
i admit i really appreciate your effort.
personally i thnk everybody is tryin to screw everybody and i have hard time actually trusting someone like the owner of this site. i never knew that i am the one that is actually the publisher,and did not have the infos u provided, information truly seems to be power... as i knew it, in the contract u agree when registerin on pond5, they are the publishers, because they are the ones publishing your content on their webservers...can u provide a link with the proof that if i go pro, i am the publisher, and, more importantly, that they aint gonna get 50% of my ascap incomes??
second, they just store the audio data on some servers, i never saw any ad of pond5 online, and i tend to believe that they really just store the data. the way it works is that producers come to the site and download some music. its not like pond5 actually calls bbc and asks them to visit the site. i mean really, i cant buy this bs.
thirdly, selling ur music at 1 dollar price is the same with selling it with 20. i mean to even get a good song idea i need at least a day, to record it another 2, and to mix and master it another one or two. i dont do mixing mastering, which means paying an engineer. its about 4-5 days of work all in all for one piece of music. if i translate those 5 days in money earned from being an employee, its obviously much much more than the 20 bucks price that sells on pond5, not to mention the site ripping me of at least 50%. i really see no reason why stock sites should get more then 15% of my earnings at most!
at least they dont get any money from performance copyright publishing synchronization rights, right? or not right?
anyways, thanx for the info, and most of all for the effort to give a damn about us ignorants. well, im an ignorant, maybe not everbody...

Dear Music Producers,

You are on the right track, listen, stop thinking pond5 is taking your money. Think of it like this, YOU are paying pond5 to handle the license fees. The royalty-free license is SO LIMITING in use is nearly laughable at a TOP level. Your Dad and Mom type amateur producers are paying for GOOD QUALITY music at say 20$ because you are selling them a NON-EXCLUSIVE extremely limiting contract.

You see... If your Mom and Dad take their video to say your local TV station, they are still only paying 20$ but on a national/global level the broadcast companies PAY the PROs...the PROs pay YOU. If you say don't REGISTER with a PRO, then that whole process is crippled. Why would you pay pond5 50%? That is our mistake...not realizing why we are paying these stock media marketplaces. We are paying to get our music, as scary as it is, BROADCASTED. What are we doing here? Making music for someone's 5 year old birthday party on youtube?? Come on.

Let's see the broader side to this. This process is for US, so your, and my, hard effort and time making music, means something and you can make Mad cash doing it. IF we do it right. And listen I am only doing this so when amateurs like myself struggle with this legal jargon they say, Nathan did it and so can I! I have cut, mixed, mastered, read, studied, invested, to much time to sit around and make peanuts.

Get this right, YOU PAY pond5 50% to get your music in the RIGHT hands, and when your music in the right hands, BE SURE TO have YOUR NAME on it. Nothing spells failure like a blank business card.

Royalty-free in no means...means...IT's 100% usable, to everyone. Read the legal statement here at pond5... http://www.pond5.com/legal/license

I am looking at this from TOP down, instead of BOTTOM up. Who is going to lease "unknown" music for anything worthwhile? If the top sellers here at pond5 are working for the top national broadcast companies, I dare say their non-PRO selection they are selling...Is their worst, and their best is registered with a PRO and it's not here on pond5. Think about IT!

I have been a registered composer at the ascap for awhile but just 3 days ago applied to be a publisher. When you log in to your PRO. It's a great feeling first of all...Second They ask you for two NAMES, the COMPOSER of music and the PUBLISHER of the music.

It's for sure not pond5, if you HAD a publisher it would go here, but since you do not have a publisher it is you. You can publish other people's music, if they let you. Here is a http://www.ascap.com/about/join/ascap_faqs.aspx

It's really not that scary, listen if you market your music then you are the publisher, all you have to do is register twice. There are two applications. COMPOSER and PUBLISHER, heck some PROs don't even have a registration fee. Shop around!

It goes like this. You make jingle, you register your jingle as song at PRO, you as composer, you as publisher. You then have 1 year to copyright said music, once you send it your government's copyright office, takes about 6 months. Then, you add to all your stock media marketplaces, and instead of leaving all that PRO stuff blank, you put in your LEGAL name that you REGISTERED, mine happens to be, NATHAN LUIS STEINKE, It's capped, because I am now a LEGAL company. You'll understand once you start looking into how to start a music company. You could go many ways. I choose to use my SS# as my tax ID. You could register with your respective governments and have some form of FED TAX ID.

At this point if you are not reading and learning you might want a lawyer.

There is this GREAT book. By, Donald S. Passman, and the title is All You Need To Know About the Music Business. He is an entertainment lawyer, and let me tell you. There is no 20$ this and 25$ that. It's 75k 250k...500k... You, me, and everyone that is entering into this music field needs to know this, SO the music industry doesn't collapse. Why are you making 500k worth of movie trailers for pennies...? Why? It makes no sense. Unless you are PRO? Am I right??

You can still sell REGISTERED PRO royalty-free music at 20$. It really doesn't bother Mom and Dad. Ok? They still license your music as royalty-free and use it locally during their happy 5 year olds birthday party. Nothing lost. However, do you now understand what you COULD be receiving if we do this right.


Listen I am not a lawyer and this is advice is free and I in no way mean to be the end all here. I just had the same question as you. Why am I paying pond5 50% to sell my music? Here is my answer at least and I hope it helps someone, somewhere down the line, because I wish someone said this to me, before I added 170+ non-PRO tracks across 7-9 stock media marketplaces. What was I thinking?

Not anymore my friends. Again I don't like out linking but please read this at taxi http://www.taxi.com/music-business-faq/publishing/set-up-pub-1.html

Listen I am not making this sh*t up. I don't want ANYTHING from ANY of you, except, maybe a few thank yous and some good vibes. We are in this together. If you don't want to go with a PRO, don't. Be assured I will be picked up all that money your missing and stuffing directly into my bank accounts.

If a TOP level producers is going to pick music for national broadcast it's going to registered with a PRO. Hands down.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com