Too add, PPL only pay out to the performers on the recording and the rights-holders of the recording, they don't pay the authors or composers of the recording. PRS pay the authors and composers, but do not pay the performers. So if you record a song written by someone else you'd get no PRS, but you would get PPL. Conversely, if you wrote a song, which was then recorded by someone else, you'd get no PPL, but you would be due PRS. Hope this helps!
Very clear and simple explanation Jared. I spent at least 8 hours to google around and reading from many articles which brought me instead more confusion, and now just came up to your video and in about 7 minutes you explained everything. Great!
I have never seen anyone online who can break things down in a digestable way such as you , Man! i have struggled to understand all these things for years and you just broke it down so simple for me to understand at last . Thank alot for this . i'm clicking likes and subcribing asap.
Great video my man! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this info. Just wanted to ask a quick question about something I hear differing opinions on. PRS claim that they collect overseas royalties from over 100 countries that have their own overseas societies and pass the money onto us. DOes this mean that we may not need to sign up with Songstrust or do songstrust cover the additional countries that may be missed out by PRS?
Very nicely explained. I've been with Prs for a while and Sentric which is not too bad to deal with. I have just joined PPL and that's a bit harder going and not too sure if I'll see any royalties from it, but thought would be worth having a look at. Thanks for this video. Nice work
Hey Marcos, sorry for the delay! Sentric can (and will) act as your rights administrator in this situation under their publisher agreement with you. So technically, they will administer the registration of works to PRS (and in turn PPL) and you don't necessarily need PRS or PPL accounts. However, as soon as your agreement with Sentric ends/you take your works elsewhere, you're then not covered etc.
I’m nearing the end of two Sync courses (getting your songs into TV, films, ads and games) and both have taught us that all back end royalties will come via our PRO. PPL (Sound Exchange in US) does not collect songwriting royalties, only royalties for the musicians on each recording. I’m also not convinced that publishing admins bring anything to the table for their 15/20% cut if you’re already signed up directly to PRS, MCPS, PPL and a digital distributor. They claim to connect all PROs but the PROs themselves collect for each other. I can see their value for folks new to the business but ultimately you do need to register with these collection agencies individually.
Hey, good take! Although, PPL doesn't only collect royalties for musicians that perform on a recorded work, but also collects for the rightsholders of that recorded work (Master Rights), so when looking at this from the view of an independent artist, who is the default Master Rights holder for their work (unless they have signed over otherwise), PPL will then be collecting royalties for the use of the master recording of that song. Apologies that it wasn't specified as just concerning the master rights and not composition royalties at that point - we now see how this could have been confusing! With publishing admins, it is purely a case of weighing up the pros and cons of entering a publishing admin or even co-pub deal in return for the % split as you mentioned. For independent artists/songwriters/bands/creators, there is a serious decision to make between paying separately to join PRS & MCPS (& PPL, although free) or joining a global admin company for approx. half the cost (some do cost more). The pros include international registration (PRS does hold agreements and partnerships with overseas PROs, however not all and even through our own personal experience, this can take on average 2.5x as long to register your songs and sometimes even incorrectly due to the different mechanisms andregistration systems these organisations use). Cons include giving up a % of your revenue as you rightly said and depending on which publishing admin agreement you enter, this could also mean a % of your actual rights, which is not a good move. Good luck with the Sync work!
Thanks for your reply. I’ll put your PPL comments to my Sync teachers. Let’s see what they say. I’ve been a fulltime musician since 1993 but the business side of things is always a headache. Getting paid for gigs is simple! Thanks for broaching these topics.
@@rushfestscotland286 Sounds great! And you're totally right - maybe one day the business side can be somewhat close to being as simple. (We can hope) Thanks for commenting and best of luck with it all!
Nice one Jared, Thanks.. Good UK info, its mainly American videos I come across when looking, which isn't very useful to me! Since you mentioned Distributers, is there 1 you would recommend? I've heard a lot of negative things about Ditto, Im thinking about DistroKid, not sure.. Is there any hidden downsides to some of these distributers? I wouldn't want to go with one that takes a percentage, don't know why someone would. TuneCore seems ok but more expensive on their upload prices.. Appreciate any advice you can give on this 👌
Hey Tony! Yes, the American PRO market is very busy and often more complicated (but arguably more efficient) than the UK one, So we're glad this was helpful! In terms of a distributor, we too hear things that aren't great for Ditto lately and also CD Baby. Distrokid has a good reputation for being simple, efficient and consistent, however, they are involved in royalty vs upfront fee disputes quite a lot and can be known to not put the artist/client first. With that being said, there are newer distributors such as; Amuse, Soundrop & +++ that offer both free and paid options for distribution! Our advice; do some looking into Distrokid, Amuse.io, Soundrop & Trac.co and weigh up their options, but all have pros and cons! Cheers!
On the PRS Website they stated "ur one-off membership fee is £100 for writers and composers. So it makes sense to join when you expect the annual use of your music to generate more than this." I wanted to submit an upcoming song to BBC Radio ahead of its release in 3-4 weeks and the BBC website was asking for my PRS Tune Code. Should I prioritise : I look forward to hearing from you.
Hey! Sorry the wait but thanks for the comment. It all depends where you feel you are at in your career and how much resource/cash you have to put into your music at this point. If the fee is worth it for you and won't have a major impact, then it may be worth it. If not, then I would aim to upload your music as planned and gain the non-financial return form a platform like the BBC. Hope that helps!
I have a very specific RU-vid question. I make my own music, which I put as background music to my videos about non music things. What is the best way for me to collect music revenue from that? (also, this was an excellent video, thank you!)
Hey! The works (songs) that you have used will need to be registered with a PRO or Publishing Adminstrator to ensure that you have other ability to receive the revenue. Without that registration, the songs aren't identifiable and therefore will just be your unique soundtrack and RU-vid will be non the wiser. Finding a PRO/Administrator that deals with Ad revenue and digital media is key! Thanks for your response!
@@electricbearstudios Is that the youtube content ID required by the digital distributor (tunecore) for them to collect my youtube money provided that i have registered with the PROs that you are reffering to pls?
@@dayosonictv Hey! If you are using your own music on your own Channel then yes, otherwise it is all about making sure the tracks themselves are correctly registered/have an ISRC etc for a suitable administrator and youtube to be able to cross reference and ensure the right collection is happening. Hope this helps!
Brilliant thanks! Just a quick question- If you release through your own label and register songs with PPL, does MCPS pay mechanicals to you (the writer) through PRS or through PPL (your label)?
Not a problem and we're glad it helped! All the different organisations do a specific job which are all related to whatever you put out through those associations. For example; if you are registering your works with PPL you will receive payments related to the services PPL offer you (direct licenses for broadcast mainly). As we understand, you would need to register with MCPS to receive any payments related to what MCPS offers (the mechanical sale of the registered works). We hope this helps.
Great vid I just have a question! I use distrokid, and I earn some royalties through that, based on streams I believe. What difference is there between royalties through distrokid, and royalties through ppl? I know prs is based around performances, but surely both ppl and distrokid collect royalties based on streams? What's the difference?
Hey Nathan, Thanks for the comment and we're glad it helped! It's a complicated process but essentially by signing up with Distrokid (or any other distributor) you have given them a direct license to sell your the MASTER of your music to the platforms they are contracted to (Spotify, apple music etc) and they are accountable for those sales. This includes streams or paid downloads etc. You are effectively acting as your own label. You will not receive any monies from other PROs or companies regarding those direct revenues as that is a contract between you and your distributor only. PRS and PPL are linked but act in different ways and you are responsible for registering your own works as either a composer/songwriter or performing rights and they will pay you for any revenues earned from their dealings. PRS will account and manage the splits for any works you own as a SONGWRITER through the selected avenues they manage (live performance, radio, TV, sync etc). PPL creates licenses for companies to play or broadcast recorded music in public which they pay a license fee. Once signed up, each time your works are performed you will receive monies as the performance rights holder. MCPS is similar but seems to account for anyone that holds direct a mechanical right to your works. Fro example CD sales etc. This can also include streaming revenues from re-mixes as a license has been purchased in order to complete the remix. We hope that helps and think that covered the points!
@@electricbearstudios I thought prs dealt with live performances, and ppl dealt with the songwriting side of streaming etc? Who h is the other way around of what you said I think, I know you can log live performances through prs, not ppl
@@natefrancis2075 Yes that’s correct, you notify PRS of any live performances because this is you as a songwriter performing your own music... in search of any royalties associated to that. We mis-wrote ppl slightly! PPL is in relation to the recorded music revenue in broadcast or played in a public space. So... a company that has a PPL license may play your song in a cafe and you receive your royalty share of that. You do not need to register performances as this should be done through the license.
Thank you! Was looking for UK specific information and this was great. I've got one question, if I joined a global publishing adminisitrator does that mean I dont need to join PRS or PPL as they collect everything all around the world?
Hey! As a principle, yes. Most Pub Administrators will require any PRO information from you when joining them, so they can ensure the right payments and information are going to the right places. However, it is always worth asking the administrator for their process to clarify this point! Cheers!
Hi i have signed up with Tunecore publishing administration for my songs. Is this like sentric or songtrust? Do tunecore P.A do the same as sentric/songtrust?
tell brother how are you? I wanted to ask you a question, I'm a beatmaker, and I did a job with a rapper, he distributed our music on 'tunecore", how do I get you to receive my royalties there?
Hey! Thanks for the question. As the rapper you're working with is distributing the song, they are technically in control of the master (on your behalf too if you have a 50/50 or shared ownership agreement etc.). So it's prettyle simple - you both need to have signed up to Tunecore and paid the one-time registration fee, then complete the form: tunecorepublishing.formstack.com/forms/ntc_submission This should then give the rapper the ability to add you a songwriter on that track including the % owed and Tunecore will then account and distribute your % for you and to you. Hope that helps!
Great video very helpful UK info! Do you know soundexchange? Im confused if they do the same thing as PPL. Many people recommend to sign up with soundexchange so Im confused if that should be done additionally to PPL
We're glad it helped! From our experience Soundexchange is a great PRO to sign up to - they seem to deal with more global territories with better response than the UK based companies. If you're UK based, it's worth signing up if you are dealing with a more global audience/reception for your works.
@@electricbearstudios Hey thanks for the great response! There really is not a lot information about this topic out there. But just to understand it better, Soundexchange and PPL do generally the same thing, but Soundexchange is more globally active? Keep up the great work
@@KingK3ksLP Hey, thanks for the nice words! In short, yes. SoundExchange has International Agreements with numerous PROs, Admin and collection societies around the world, just like PPL. So by registering with either SoundExchange or PPL , you should benefit from your recording/rights information being shared with all societies that each have agreements with. The only major difference to take into consideration is the reputation/experience of others and the only advice we can give for certain on that side is that SoundExchange seems to be slightly more proactive when compared to PPL. Happy researching and good luck!
Thanks for your video - very informative. I have a question: With regarding PROs, I've submitted to PRS and PPL and have now looked at Sentric but it looks to me that they would want to submit to PRS/PPL on my behalf so they get their cut of the payments. Am I understanding this correctly? Thanks
Hey Sophia! Once you sign up and send your music to Sentric, they will act as your publishing body for those songs. Publishing bodies can and will provide the information to PRS and any other necessary PROs on your behalf, as they are taking responsibility for the administration of the songs (and data) you have uploaded to them. Therefore, you could find yourself in a position where this is taken care of on your behalf and you don't have to remember to do it! However, we would always recommend looking into any publisher and distributor before signing up to them, but Sentric do not have a bad reputation! Best of luck!
Hi! I was wondering if say you was to a producing tracks (beats) for artists (independent and signed) and they used their distributers, would I ask them to credit me in the track when they upload to distribution for me to then register the track on PPL so I can collect it? Or is there a different way to do that?
Hey! Great question, however ultimately it depends on the agreements you reach/sign with your clients. For example, if you are making a track with an unsigned artist, you may want to form an agreement that entitles you to say, 20% of either the master or publishing. Then, if the artist is using a distributor, YOU will need to register the song with PRS to collect performance royalties, however, with mechanical royalties, the artist would technically have to pay you your share, acting as a label almost. Some distributors do actually pay collaborators as standard, so it may be worth pushing this kind of artist to someone like Amuse/Trac/Distrokid to get your share paid to you from the distributor. If you are working with/for someone who has a publishing/publishing administration agreement with a company, then you should be asked to provide your PRO/Publishing admin company details (if you have one) and contact details, usually including bank/payment account details as the artist's publishing/admin company is responsible for accounting and processing the royalties/revenue. In terms of easily creating agreements with artists/clients, check Auddly.com for more info - it's a great tool!
