ASCAP or BMI for TV composers: how each one pays
By Marc Aaron Jacobs · Updated
Neither is better for every TV composer. ASCAP pays TV from its own surveys: some channels are counted in full and the rest are sampled. BMI matches performance information from broadcasters and data providers to cue sheets and weights each performance by audience. Which pays you more depends on where your music airs, which neither society can tell you in advance.
If you switch, your existing library cues usually do not move. They stay with the society the publisher registered them with, writer and publisher share together, until the publisher removes them. New works you write after switching go to your new society.
Side by side
| Question | ASCAP | BMI |
|---|---|---|
| How TV is counted | Census on some media: network TV (all uses on ABC, NBC and CBS; programs on Fox, CW and Univision), general entertainment cable networks, premium movie services and selected sports services. Sample on the rest. | Performance information from licensees, Gracenote or other providers, matched to cue sheets, weighted by Nielsen audience data. |
| When it pays writers | January, April, July, October, about three quarters after airing. | February, May, August, November, about two quarters after airing. |
| Foreign income | Separate distributions in February, May, August and November. | In the same quarterly distributions, after a 3.6% administrative fee. |
| Theme bonus | ASCAP pays a TV Premium on some works; the rules are in its Survey and Distribution System Rules & Policies. | A Theme Music Bonus on network TV for themes that pass a quarterly performance count. |
| Asking about a missing airing | Pays from its survey. Ask which cue sheet it holds and whether the airing was surveyed. | Will look into it. Give the airings and the period. |
| Leaving | Only in a three-month window every two years, set by your election date. | In most agreements, notice 3 to 6 months before your two-year term ends, by tracked mail. |
Read from each society's own site on 7 November 2026: ASCAP's survey page, the ASCAP distribution schedule, Resigning from ASCAP, the BMI Royalty Policy Manual and BMI's affiliation agreement page.
How each counts TV
ASCAP runs a census where counting everything is affordable and a sample elsewhere, so on a sampled channel only airings inside the sampled days and times are paid. That can leave a confirmed airing at $0. See ASCAP census and sample surveys.
BMI's manual says it gets TV performance information from its licensees, Gracenote or other qualified providers and matches it to cue sheets. Each performance is valued using the licence fees for the quarter, its duration, its use (theme, feature, background or logo) and Nielsen audience data for the program. Where a source's data is missing or incomplete, BMI may pay that source's fees against performances from other sources.
BMI's Theme Music Bonus
BMI pays a bonus on network TV themes that reach a minimum number of network performances in the quarter:
| Network | Quarterly network performances needed |
|---|---|
| ABC, CBS, NBC | 2,000 |
| FOX | 1,700 |
| CW | 700 |
| Univision | 150 |
Segment themes and themes used in interstitials or other short-form programs do not qualify. BMI credits a segment theme, meaning a theme reused through a program, as background. Cable and local TV themes are not part of this bonus. ASCAP's rules for theme credit are in its Survey and Distribution System Rules & Policies.
Foreign income
Both depend on the foreign societies, which log the airings, collect, and send the money on, so foreign income often takes a year or more (BMI says one to two years) and arrives with no performance count. ASCAP pays it on a separate statement four times a year. BMI pays it in its quarterly distribution after a 3.6% fee. See why foreign TV royalties take so long.
If you switch
- •Timing. ASCAP accepts resignation only in a three-month window every two years, set by your election date. BMI writer agreements run two years and renew automatically; in most agreements, notice goes by tracked mail, postmarked 3 to 6 months before the term ends. BMI does not accept notice by email.
- •Existing library cues usually stay put, both shares together. BMI says that if your works are published by a BMI publisher, including one you own, it keeps licensing them for as long as that publisher stays with BMI and does not remove them. ASCAP's resignation FAQs treat a work's writer and publisher shares as two parts of an inseparable whole, so a work leaves only when both are removed.
- •New works go to your new society. Music you write after the switch is registered there. BMI keeps paying for performances before you leave on its usual schedule, and ASCAP's resignation FAQs set out how it pays resigned members.
- •Licences in effect. Both societies keep licensing your works under licences signed before you left, until those licences end, so some income keeps arriving from the old society for a while.
None of this is a reason to ask your libraries to move their publisher registrations. They are the ones who give you placements. Questions about a missing payment go to the society that should have paid it.
ONTRK reads ASCAP, BMI and SESAC statements today and checks airings you already have against them, whichever society holds the work. Its own TV detection, monitored by BMAT on 50 channels in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, opens in November.
Common questions
Is ASCAP or BMI better for TV composers?
It depends where your music airs. ASCAP samples some channels and counts others in full; BMI matches performance data to cue sheets and weights by audience. Neither pays everything that airs.
What is the BMI theme bonus?
A Theme Music Bonus on network TV. On ABC, CBS and NBC a theme needs 2,000 network performances in the quarter, on FOX 1,700, on CW 700 and on Univision 150. Segment themes do not qualify.
If I switch from ASCAP to BMI, do my library cues move?
Usually neither share moves for existing library cues. They stay with the society the publisher registered them with, until the publisher removes them. New works you write after switching go to your new society.
When can I leave ASCAP or BMI?
ASCAP: in a three-month window every two years, set by your election date. BMI: in most agreements, by tracked mail postmarked 3 to 6 months before your two-year term ends.
Related
- ASCAP census and sample surveys: why an airing can pay $0: what census and sample mean, why a confirmed airing can pay nothing, and what to ask ASCAP.
- When do ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, PRS, SOCAN and GEMA pay?: each society's payment months, and which quarter of airings each payment covers.
- Why do foreign TV royalties take so long?: how an airing abroad reaches you, why it takes one to two years, and who to ask.
- How to ask ASCAP, BMI or SESAC about a missing royalty: what to include, and why each society needs a different letter.
Who makes this
ONTRK is built by Marc Aaron Jacobs, a composer who runs the libraries Tonal Chaos and Tonal Chaos Trailers, and who built DropCue. Questions go to hello@ontrk.app and reach him directly.
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