Get paid for the songs you write through royalties

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Songwriting can potentially be a lucrative career option if your songs gets into the right hands at the right times. Many artists prefer to write their own songs, although international artists, such as Celine Dion, have never written a single song to call their own.

So where does the money come from?

The royalty clauses in a publishing contract take up a major part of the agreement and are usually divided up into the various royalty categories. Assuming that the song has been recorded and released for public distribution, there are performance royalties, synchronization royalties, mechanical royalties and print royalties.

Performance royalties generate the largest share of income for songwriters, paid by television and radio broadcasters. The publisher (the person who exploits your song to as many markets as possible) gets half of the performance royalty of a song. Royalty advances that a publisher may give the songwriter is always recouped or paid back from revenues, i.e. future royalty payments that are forthcoming.

Print rights refer to the right to print sheet music. Usually the songwriter gets 10 to 15 per cent of the royalty for print sheet music.

The publisher negotiates the synchronization rights for film, television or video. The song is being "synched" with a visual image in the audio-visual soundtrack. Synchronization licensing refers to authorization licenses for film, television and audio- visual productions.

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA) is a licensing agency for synchronization licenses, mechanical licenses, and other musical reproduction rights uses. The mechanical right is the right to reproduce a song on a CD, cassette or LP and are commonly referred to in music biz lingo as "mechanicals". Hence, mechanical licenses refer to licenses authorizing the reproduction of compact discs, cassettes and LPs. Royalties are paid according to CMRRA royalty rates and the royalties are then re-distributed to their members, the majority of them being music publishers. The music publisher gets half of the publisher/songwriter share for each song and royalties are disbursed to the songwriter(s). These royalty rates differ depending on the telecommunications technology (commercial radio, television, etc.) that is used in the transmission of the reproduced music.

About every two years the Copyright Board of Canada sets out the mechanical rate, which is currently .077 cents per copy per song of five minutes or less. Royalty is based on retail sales that are sold in stores on a one hundred per cent return basis. There are no royalties on promotional CDs or "free goods," which radio stations get to air. (Free goods represent about five to 10 per cent of manufactured product.)

If you release your CD in the United States, it is the Harry Fox Agency that collects performing rights royalties. The U.S. mechanical rate is .08 cents per copy per song. So if you released 1,000 CDs with 10 songs in Canada, you would receive $770. But, if you released in the United States, you would receive $800, in American funds.

For independent releases, royalty payments are paid in advance by the manufacturer. Mechanical royalty payments are paid to the publisher by the record label. The music publisher gets half of the royalty share. Major record labels usually issue their statements every six months.

SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) is a copyright music collective that also administers performing rights royalties. Their mandate is to authorize the performance rights of their members by music licenses and collecting royalty payments. To collect royalties each member must inform SOCAN of a public performance at a SOCAN venue by completing a notification of live performance form, including the titles and composer(s) for each song within six months of a performance. A poster, ad or newspaper article to provide proof that the SOCAN member performed is needed. Paments are made annually.

Each year the Copyright Appeal Board receives royalties, charges and statement of fees that SOCAN proposes to collect. The rates vary for each type of music user and are published annually in the Canada Gazette. For example, radio stations keep daily logs of each song that is played on commercial radio. Television broadcasters use cue sheets to list musical broadcast that include the song length with a description of how the song was performed.

Columnists Note: For the aspiring songwriter out there, you can enter an annual international songwriting competition at www.songwritercompetition.com. You may just get that one song in the right hands at the right time.

This column is for reference and education only and is not intended to be a substitute for legal advice. The author assumes no responsibility or liability arising from any outdated information, errors, omissions, claims, demands, damages, actions, or causes of actions from the use of any of the above.

Ann Brascoupe owns What's Up Promotions, a company specializing in promoting booking, and managing Aboriginal artists across Canada. She can be reached at abrascoupe@hotmail.com.