News: John Harris And The Soul Sayers Now Out On 45

[Guest Paul]

Hello John,

The procedure you describe is closer to what happens with performance and broadcast royalties and fees collected by PRS. They distribute those royalties to various publishers and writers based on broadcast data and sample surveys but in the case of any amounts which they can't distribute (because there is no registration or no active publisher etc) they eventually distribute those amounts to other PRS members on a proportional basis. In theory it could mean that someone like Paul McCartney might earn a few extra pounds that should have been due to an obscure writer who isn't a member.

So the 'central kitty' you mentioned (or 'black box' as some call it) is for royalties which can't be distributed at that time and they are usually held for two years before they are allocated to other members. The calculation of public performance and broadcasting royalties is not always an exact science because most income is from blanket licenses but precise broadcast data (such as cue sheets etc) is only obtained from a few sources - the rest is "assumed" based on partial sample surveys etc.

 

American writers who don't have a UK publisher can at least claim the writer share (50%) of PRS royalties via American societies such as BMI or ASCAP because the societies are all affiliated with each other. Obviously the writers need to have active memberships of BMI or ASCAP and all of their songs need to be registered. 

 

As for MCPS, the mechanical royalty system is more scientific and royalties are not actually collected unless there is a current registration from an MCPS member (or an affiliated member through a foreign copyright society) so when a song is credited as 'Copyright Control' it means that no money is paid by the record company at that time - although they are obliged to pay at a later date if a registration or retroactive claim is made. There are limitations but once six years have passed you can definitely kiss goodbye to any unclaimed mechanicals.

 

Best wishes,

 

Paul
 

 

P.S. Other copyright societies - such as BUMA, GEMA and STEMRA etc in the EU - are also linked with PRS so in theory the writers can earn from foreign broadcasts via whatever society they are members of. It all needs careful registrations and notifications and in some cases the society needs to be specifically informed to look for overseas income on particular songs. After that it can take more than a year for any royalties to reach the writers.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Paul

[Neil Rushton]

And as I understand matters, if a song is designated as copyright control, the royalties (for the record release & radio plays) goes into a central kitty that eventually gets doled out to impoverished British ex-recording artists (down on their luck).

So for all the US recorded UK released soul tracks that were MCPS copyright control, not one penny in royalties has ever found its way to any of those US recording artists.

MAY BE WRONG HERE but don't believe I am. 

That's why US artists need to be signed to a decent label (Ace / Kent, etc) or be represented by Paul Mooney or his like over here.

No, MCPS looks after the publishing (song rights) only.

They are not set up to distribute royalties for the use of the master reording. That is the obligation of the record label that releases the master. So a SONG COULD be designated copyright control by MCPS, but that does not mean whoever owns the recording master (which may or may not be the artist) which contains the song, will not have been paid an advance against master royalties, or future royalties when that advance is recouped by the label against sales.

[Guest Wolfgang Fercher]

Obviously there are two different kinds of limited reissues.

So the total available number is now 1000 copies

https://www.discogs.com/John-Harris-And-The-Soul-Sayers-Hangin-In-What-Can-I-Do/release/4756790

[Ljblanken]

On 06/09/2013 at 04:09, Wolfgang Fercher said:

Obviously there are two different kinds of limited reissues.

So the total available number is now 1000 copies

https://www.discogs.com/John-Harris-And-The-Soul-Sayers-Hangin-In-What-Can-I-Do/release/4756790

I just got the reissue that has the Kerston logo (versus the Cree logo). It also has a number written on it (282/500). Does anyone know if this reissue is legal? (as I know the Cree/BearFamily is) 

At least it sounds good and clear. 

Thanks!  

Edited July 11, 2020 by Ljblanken

[Benji]

The Kerston reissue is a bootleg.