Students filled Sweeney Hall for an informational session on Performing Rights Organizations, groups geared toward licensing original compositions, Monday night.
Deirdre Chadwick, executive director of BMI, one of the largest of these organizations in the country, led the conversation. Chadwick began by identifying three major PRO’s: BMI, the American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers and SESAC.
“All I’m going to say about that is just join BMI,” Chadwick said. “SESAC is run as a for-profit organization, and PRO’s work best as service organizations, service largely to composers.”
Chadwick also went on to further describe the role of the PRO in the life of the composer and musician. BMI’s website described its organization as “the bridge between songwriters and the businesses and organizations that want to play their music publicly.”
The composer of an original work, Chadwick said, inherently holds the rights to exploit ?the work.
This means not only performance but also ticket sales and right to distribute the work after debut.
“Collective licensing is the biggest boom to creators and music users in the music business,” Chadwick said. “It’s becoming a lot more fragmented now, but in terms of radio stations being able to play anything they want, this is a system that works for everybody.”
Chadwick specified, however, that some licensing issues do not fall under BMI’s influence. These include the right to record pieces and issues dealing with synchronized sound and picture.
Throughout the talk, Chadwick took questions from composition students mainly focused in classical composition.
One of the first topics Chadwick discussed was licensing itself, which she said is the pinnacle of success in the musical world.
“Licensing is a big part of copyright law and performance right,” Chadwick said. “You can’t legally perform someone else’s work. U.S. copyright is not voluntary.”
An example of a price, for example, of a license from BMI, Chadwick said, is just more than $200 for a year of programs.
Though the compensation might not seem like much to the struggling composer, Chadwick assured the sum would be more comfortable than not being paid for using the work.
Chadwick also highlighted the groups that are exempt from licensing fees, including kindergarten through 12th grade orchestras in public and private schools and most bands attached to the armed forces.
“The military, despite ?being quite high-profile and avid commissioners of new music, do not pay licensing fees,” Chadwick said. “The exceptions are the academies, bands that are attached to post secondary.”
Part of the talk focused on the most common misconceptions Chadwick has heard about the roles of PRO’s and with what she, as part of BMI, will not be able to help.
“I cannot negotiate for you because I’m not your agent,” Chadwick said. “I can’t tell you what to charge because that would be against the law.”
Chadwick also warned against one of the most common sticky situations in composition: the right to reproduce unoriginal texts. She said she frequently receives calls about publishers not responding to composers looking to use another ?artist’s work.
“Don’t even start thinking about how you’re going to set that text,” Chadwick said. “Don’t even put a note down until you have permission, not just to create the work, performance, recording, publication (and) ?distribution.”
Hiring a publisher is another gray area of the process. If the publisher and composer are different people, royalties are 50-50 instead of 100 percent going toward the composer.
Adding in a publisher also adds another layer of confusion to the ownership of the work.
“When you assign your work to a publisher, they own your copyright,” Chadwick said. “They’re exploiting your work. They can freaking sell it to a toothpaste commercial if they want to.”
Chadwick said the most important decision a composer must make is whether or not to be their own publisher because the job comes with its own set of responsibilities and worries.
“That’s creative energy that is going to a non-creative area, and that’s hard,” Chadwick said. “I’ve been around composers my whole life, and I know a lot of you are terrible with deadlines, terrible with paperwork. How many of you have your taxes done? Probably none of you.”
The process is all about knowing oneself as a composer. Chadwick said as long as the composer gets the registration done on time, licensing will work in the ?artist’s favor.
“Start by looking inside and knowing what you can handle, what you’re good at and what you’re not good at,” Chadwick said.
