Intellectual Property

Too often, independent artists thrive on the passion of their art without profiting from their hard work because they are naïve as to how to build consumer demand for their product. Learn how to own your creative works and make revenue by licensing or leasing the rights to your property:

Step 1) Register for your ISRC Code

Step 2) Register with a PRO (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC) then register your work

Step 3) Copyright your music or intellectual property; Trademark your brand or logo

Step 4) Register your songs through Nielsen for radio or internet radio

Step 5) Own your own website, market and control your product

ISRC Code- The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording, independent of the format on which it appears (CD, audio file, etc) or the rights holders involved. Only one ISRC should be issued to a track, and an ISRC can never represent more than one unique recording.

ISRCs are widely used in digital commerce by download sites and collecting societies. An ISRC can also be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments.

Click below:

https://www.usisrc.org/applications/index.html

Are you independent? Performance Rights Organizations PROs are “societies responsible for collecting income on behalf of songwriters and music publishers when a song is publicly broadcast.” That means PROs track down cash for you when your music is played on television and AM/FM airwaves, through Internet radio services like Pandora, at a club, inside a restaurant, at a concert, or publicly broadcast in some other fashion. These places and stations pay fees to PROs, who in turn pay their registered songwriters, most of whom are owed more money than they know. (You can only be affiliated with one PRO)

Publishing Companies: In order to collect your publisher’s share of royalties as an ASCAP member, you need to have an ASCAP publishing company.

Publishing Companies: You do not need a publishing company to collect your publisher’s share of royalties at BMI.

Copyright Sound Recording: Use Form SR for registration of published or unpublished sound recordings. Form SR should be used when the copyright claim is limited to the sound recording itself, and it may also be used where thesame copyright claimant is seeking simultaneous registration of the underlying musical, dramatic, or literary work embodied in the phonorecord.

Processing Time for e-Filing: generally, 3 to 5 months

Processing Time for Paper Forms: generally, 7 to 13 months

http://copyright.gov/forms/formsr.pdf

A trademark is a brand name. A trademark or service mark includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others, and to indicate the source of the goods/services.

Trademark Search: You should search the USPTO database before filing your application, to determine whether anyone already claims trademark rights in a particular mark through a federal registration. Failure to conduct a proper search may result in your not making a proper assessment as to whether an application should even be filed.

Trademark Application: You may file your trademark application online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) along with filing fee of $275 per class of goods and/or services. http://www.uspto.gov/teas/teasplus.htm

Media Base Registration: Complete the Mediabase New Music Notification form, and send or email your music and the form to the following:

http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/NewMusic.asp

MediaBase: Mediabase charts and airplay data are used on many popular radio countdown shows and televised music awards programs. Music charts are published in both domestic and international trade publications and newspapers worldwide

Complete the Mediabase New Music Notification form, and send or email your music and the form to the following: http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/NewMusic.asp

Radio/TV Register

Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, better known as BDS, is a service that tracks monitored radio, television and Internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections. The service, which is a subsidiary of Nielsen Corporation provides the basis for Nielsen Media publication Billboard in the United States, while in Canada, BDS helps determine the Canadian BDS Airplay Chart and the Canadian Hot 100 chart, which is published by Jam! and in the website for Canadian Music Network, in determining their radio airplay music charts and determines the chart movement in Billboard's Hot 100 chart when combined with single sales from Nielsen SoundScan.

Using a patented digital pattern recognition technology, Nielsen BDS captures in excess of 100 million song detections annually on more than 1,600 radio stations in over 140 U.S. markets (including Puerto Rico), 30 Canadian markets and the 3 major markets in Mexico. Nielsen BDS also uses the service to track monitored airplay at satellite radio (Sirius XM), Internet services (like Yahoo! and AOL) and audio networks (like Dial Global, Music Choice and Radio Disney), as well as on TV (12 U.S. music video channels and 9 Canadian video channels).

Submit your music to register for BDS, Mediabase & Soundscan:

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/public%20factsheets/Soundscan/How-to-Submit-Music-to-Nielsen-BDS.pdf

Reggie G - Mediabase Report

"WHAT DOES A NIELSON BDS OR MEDIABASE REPORT LOOK LIKE??"