How to download your cue sheets from ASCAP and BMI
By Marc Aaron Jacobs · Updated
Neither ASCAP nor BMI offers a cue sheet download, so you save the page your browser shows. From ASCAP, open the cue sheet in Member Access and use Print, then Save as PDF. From BMI, open the cue sheet in Online Services and use File, then Save Page As, because a PDF of BMI's page keeps only the first cue.
Either way, the saved file holds every cue with its title, duration, usage, writers and publishers. That is the copy to keep, and the one ONTRK reads.
From ASCAP
- •Log in to ASCAP Member Access and open Cue Sheets.
- •Open the cue sheet for the episode.
- •Choose Print, and set the destination to Save as PDF. In Chrome that is the Destination menu in the print window.
- •Save it. Name the file after the series and episode so it can be found later.
The PDF keeps every cue on every page, with its sequence number, title, ASCAP work ID, usage, duration, and each writer and publisher with their society.
From BMI
- •Log in to BMI Online Services and open the cue sheet for the episode.
- •Choose File, then Save Page As. In Chrome, pick Webpage, Complete.
- •Keep the .html file it saves. That file is the cue sheet.
Do not print BMI's page to PDF: the PDF keeps only the first cue. The saved page keeps all of them, with BMI work IDs, ISWCs, shares, IPI numbers and societies.
Avoid PDF printer apps
Use the browser's own Save as PDF, not a PDF printer app or driver. Some of those save the text as pictures of letters, so the file looks right but holds no text, and nothing can read the cues back out of it.
A quick test: open the saved PDF and try to select a cue title with your mouse. If you can select it, the text is there.
What to do with them
Drop the saved files on the Cue sheets page in ONTRK, many at once if you like. RapidCue PDFs and Excel cue sheets from productions and libraries work too. ONTRK checks the cues you hold under ASCAP against your ASCAP statements, by title and then by episode, length and usage, so you can see which were paid. Cues under BMI are kept but not checked yet. See what a cue sheet is for why a missing one costs you.
Common questions
Can I download a cue sheet from ASCAP?
There is no download button. Open the cue sheet in ASCAP Member Access, choose Print, and save it as a PDF. The PDF keeps every cue.
Can I download a cue sheet from BMI?
There is no download button. Open the cue sheet in BMI Online Services and use File, then Save Page As. Printing BMI's page to PDF keeps only the first cue.
Why can't my saved cue sheet PDF be read?
Either it is a BMI page printed to PDF, which keeps only the first cue (save BMI's page with File, then Save Page As instead), or it was made with a PDF printer app that saved the text as pictures. Save an ASCAP cue sheet again with the browser's own Save as PDF, then check you can select a cue title in the file.
Related
- What is a cue sheet, and how does a missing one cost you?: the document that decides whether an airing can be paid to you at all.
- Why didn't I get paid for my TV placement?: the five reasons an airing goes unpaid, and how to tell which one it is.
- 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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