Playing two original songs on local TV show. File anything?

[James Steele]

Question for the business savvy out there. My band is going to be performing live on a local morning TV show in San Diego. We'll be playing 2-3 original songs that I have registered with ASCAP as both publisher and songwriter. Is there some sort of paperwork or report I should file or whatever with ASCAP to notify them that it is being used? I'm a neophyte really and don't know about these "cue sheets," etc. But is there any benefit to putting in some paperwork... if not financially (I don't expect there is) but just to learn about the process?

[HCMarkus]

Should we look for you on KUSI? I'm BMI, but I think there is a live performance special award ASCAP may have.

You can ask the station if they put a Cue Sheet together including your music type of use, timing and titles and submit to the PROs. No Cue Sheet > no royalties. Not sure if local is gonna' generate royalties either way, but worth an inquiry. Here's what BMI has to say:

https://www.bmi.com/creators/royalty/us ... _royalties

[James Steele]

Well I'm a little nervous. Here's the Facebook event link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/540008986539843/

It will livestream on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 10:30am PDT. You're local so you can watch it on TV on channels 9/51 if so inclined. Or the livestream link is here:

https://www.kusi.com/only-on-kusi/livestream/

I'm not concerned really about any income, but just thought maybe to start establishing a track record. I know the producer and can ask them if they file Cue Sheets. It is a "new program" per se, so it may be different since it's news and we are promoting an upcoming show. That might be the way around it.. that's it's reporting on a local event.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Yeah, reporting on news events is generally exempt from licensing. Halloran will know. He's ASCAP and this is basically his wheelhouse.

[HCMarkus]

Yeah, reporting on news events is generally exempt from licensing. Halloran will know. He's ASCAP and this is basically his wheelhouse.

I don't think you'd call it "reporting on news"... the local station has bands perform in-studio as a feature, so I'd guess at least nominal income may well be a possibility.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

That'd be nice, but I never received BMI when appearing on a news show.

[rickorick]

Do you need to bring your own sound? I used to do a Christmas show and I had to bring all
the mics, mixer and monitors etc. and then send them a 2 track feed from my mixer. The T.V.
station didn't have any kind of mics just the clip on type.

[mikehalloran]

Yes, I work for ASCAP. Other than the fact that I work in General Licensing and not Membership, I do not discuss what I do online. Along those lines, if contacted back channel about Membership questions, I will refer you to the web site or the toll-free. If anyone has Licensing issues, I will respond with my contact info so we can discuss it as part of my job.

Here’s a FAQ
https://www.ascap.com/help

Most of our $Billion+ in annual/quarterly royalty disbursements are based on surveys. There are exceptions and all members should be aware of them:

If ASCAP is not paying you $25,000 or more annually, you should be reporting your eligible performances. We have a number of ways.

ASCAP Onstage for club, casual and other performances that are not concert, jazz/symphonic or broadcast.
https://www.ascap.com/music-creators/ascap-onstage

ASCAP PLUS for concert, symphonic, jazz and certain other performances
https://www.ascap.com/help/registering- ... tification

https://www.ascap.com/news-events/artic ... rds-update

Broadcast is different. Take a look at this web site first.
https://www.ascap.com/help/royalties-an ... rtisements

Best to talk with Membership about the ins and out of broadcast performances. The toll-free: 1-800-952-7227 number is answered round-robin among the LA, New York and Nashville Membership offices. Here are our local office numbers:
https://www.ascap.com/contact-us

Hmmm... I’m recovering from surgery on my hand and was planning to take today off. Did posting this count as work?

Kind of surreal typing this with one finger on serious pain killers. Thank goodness an iPad doesn’t count as heavy machinery.

[James Steele]

Yeah, reporting on news events is generally exempt from licensing. Halloran will know. He's ASCAP and this is basically his wheelhouse.

I don't think you'd call it "reporting on news"... the local station has bands perform in-studio as a feature, so I'd guess at least nominal income may well be a possibility.

Yes... but we're plugging an upcoming show during the appearance, so it may be that because it's sharing a "community event" or something like that, it's exempt. I can't be sure, but I think maybe one of the requirements to be on is to have an upcoming gig to plug which may be the loophole. Not that I really care in this case. We're glad to do it. Mostly I viewed this as an education opportunity to learn what sorts of things you file or how it's reported.

[mikehalloran]

The entire issue with broadcast is what must be reported (by the producers) and how you can stay on top of it so that you can be paid.

This is one area where a call to Membership is beneficial. Do the producers have to file cue sheets for these particular performances? If they do, how do you know later on if they did?

While I and others can make assumptions and educated guesses, Membership will know.

[rickorick]

How was the show?

[James Steele]

How was the show?

Went pretty well, for being absolutely terrified but hiding it well. It was my first time on *live* television. Here's a link to a story the TV station posted that has two videos... one for each song we performed. In the second, I had a total brain misfire and forgot to switch guitars before the song started. The song we were going to do was in Drop D tuning and I was still wearing a guitar with a Floyd Rose that was locked to standard tuning. Nothing to do but do the guitar switch after the song started, but fortunately we just vamped and covered it fairly well.

But as for the question, it went over really well. The show usually has more sedate tribute bands or bands that pay tribute to an era or genre of music. We're probably the heaviest sort of act they've had on and by today's standards, we're not all that heavy. But the staff was all stoked and wanted us back on and we received many compliments for the people who worked at the station. There is no audience per se... it's a taping so not really many people there except some crew, a camera, and the on-air talent.

Here's the link for anyone who wants to check it out. I can't embed the video here unfortunately.

https://www.kusi.com/james-steele-proje ... mber-29th/

[mikehalloran]

That was great. Fun to hear you.

[James Steele]

That was great. Fun to hear you.

Thanks man. Bunch more stuff at https://jamessteeleproject.com/music