The best part about cue sheets and royalties is that it isn't paid by the producers it is paid by the broadcasters.
For example; Betty.co.uk produces a handful of low grade reality shows. Once the content is sent to the broadcasters it is compulsory on the part of the broadcasters to demand a cue sheet and to account for the royalty payments for music that has been mechanically synced to picture.
Some broadcasters look upon claims of royalty free sync'ed music with su****ion as it is simply easier to C.O.A. by paying the prescribed fees for all the music they use than to wonder when a claim will be made that they broadcast music that wasn't authorized.
A lot of the inexpensive backing track libraries business is built upon the idea that you can have copies of a large library at your studio for a very low fee and the payoff comes when you place some of their content in a broadcast and the royalty stream opens up.
Just because Whitey doesn't mention this doesn't mean he doesn't know how to cash royalty checks when they show up at his mail box. :-)
These are the same sorts of profit focused producers who try to get labor, like me, to work as cheaply as possible. My favorite line is
"we have a big block of work so you should give us a discount" which to me is another way of saying
"we want you to lose even more money than if we just asked you to give us a special deal for one day".
One difference between the caterer or labor and a musician like Whitey is that the caterer doesn't get royalties... and if it's TV they don't get a credit either.
It is easy to say no and even easier to ignore the request.
best regards,
mike
post edited by mike_mccue - 2013/11/08 12:06:17