Why do foreign TV royalties take so long?
By Marc Aaron Jacobs · Updated
Because the money passes through two societies. Your home society does not log airings abroad. The society in that country logs them, collects from the broadcaster, works out what each work earned under its own rules, and sends the money to your society, usually once or twice a year. Your society then pays you in its next foreign distribution.
BMI says most foreign payments reach its writers one to two years after the performance. SOCAN says some foreign payments cover the previous year, and others go back two, three or four or more years. If you have an airing abroad, ask your own society about it, not the foreign one and not the library.
How an airing abroad reaches you
- •The foreign society logs it. Each society monitors its own territory, using its own mix of census, sample and broadcaster reports.
- •It collects and calculates. The broadcaster pays its licence to that society, which works out each work's share under its own distribution rules.
- •It sends the money to your society. BMI says most foreign societies pay it on an annual or semi-annual basis.
- •Your society pays you. BMI pays foreign income in its quarterly distributions, after an administrative fee its manual puts at 3.6%. ASCAP pays foreign income in February, May, August and November, on a separate statement.
Sources: BMI's foreign royalties FAQ, the BMI Royalty Policy Manual, the ASCAP distribution schedule and SOCAN's 2024 Simplified Distribution Rules.
What foreign lines look like on your statement
A foreign society sends the money without the list of airings behind it. So a foreign line names the country, the society that collected it and an amount, but no performance count, and you cannot see each airing.
| Society | Where foreign income shows |
|---|---|
| ASCAP | A separate international export. Country Name, Licensor (the foreign society), Series Name and $ Amount. It has a Performance Start Date column, but no count. |
| BMI | The same file as domestic income, marked by COUNTRY OF PERFORMANCE, already in US dollars. |
| SOCAN | RemittingSociety names the foreign society, and the amounts are in Canadian dollars like the rest of the file. |
| GEMA | Its own report, with a file name starting "A_". It names the foreign society and the date of use. |
This is why foreign income cannot be checked airing by airing. It can be totalled, sorted by country and compared year on year, but not matched against a list of airings. The statement guides cover each society's columns.
What slows it down, and what you can fix
- •Late registrations and cue sheets. BMI's manual says late registrations and cue sheets may cause royalties to be delayed or lost, and that full registrations let it tell foreign societies about your catalogue.
- •Translated titles. A show often airs abroad under another name. BMI asks for foreign translations of song, film and TV show titles, and details of foreign sub-publishing deals, so it can track them.
- •The foreign society's own calendar. This one you cannot change. Each society needs a different amount of time to identify and pay.
When to ask, and who to ask
Ask your own society. It holds the reciprocal agreement with the foreign society, and it is the one that can request an adjustment. Do not take it to the library or the production.
Check each foreign statement as it arrives. If an airing you expected is missing, ask within nine months of that statement, because BMI's manual sets that limit and many foreign societies have strict cutoffs. Send the work number, the show and its foreign title if it has one, the country, the channel and the air dates.
ONTRK shows what share of your statement is foreign income and cannot be checked airing by airing, today, from the free statement reader. Its own TV detection, monitored by BMAT on 50 channels in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, opens in November.
Common questions
How long do foreign TV royalties take?
BMI says most foreign payments reach its writers one to two years after the performance. SOCAN says some go back two, three or four or more years, depending on the country.
Why is there no performance count on my foreign royalties?
Foreign societies send the money to your society without the list of airings behind it, so foreign lines name a country, a society and an amount, but not a count.
Who do I ask about a missing foreign royalty?
Your own society. It holds the agreement with the foreign society and can request an adjustment. Send the work number, the show, its foreign title, the country, channel and air dates.
Is there a deadline for foreign royalty claims?
BMI's manual asks for foreign claims in writing within nine months of the foreign distribution that should have paid it, because many foreign societies have strict cutoffs.
Related
- When do ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, PRS, SOCAN and GEMA pay?: each society's payment months, and which quarter of airings each payment covers.
- How to read your ASCAP royalty statement: domestic and international exports, column by column.
- How to read your BMI royalty statement: what each column means, and why titles stop at 30 characters.
- 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.
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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