Hi,
A couple of history minded lessons here, btw ... and fun too!
ASCAP and BMI are there to make money, not to support you. You will never live off their retainers, because your piece of music is not on their top ten ... that collects 95% of all the money! And allows morons to sue lesser known artists because they have nothing better to do with the money!
Since the turn of the century, btw, the movie studios have owned almost 80% of all the music out there, and I believe ASCAP and BMI are a part of their setup. This, essentially means, (if even partially true) that they can play and own any piece of music, if you like it or not. I think it was either Spike Jones, or Carl Stalling that made the joke that one studio had BMI and the other had ASCAP for its library and that they had wars over music and cartoons !!!! There is no way that Tom and Jerry is gonna get one on Bugs, and Daffy will get mad! In that situation, it would be "royalty free" because you already own it, or if it's for a new movie, they rent it out to that company ... nothing like paying yourself and the tax code allows it.
Nowadays, there is something else, which has been there the whole time. With one problem ... if you take the action, unless one of your pieces gets famous ... you will never get any attention. At the end of the year, you put together all paperwork you have, bind them, pay your fee to the Library of Congress and send them a copy ... voila ... protected for 28 years. Anyone using your work will have to negotiate fees, and while this is interesting, this might also make you think that BMI/ASCAP would have to send you a nickel, if someone listed it on their play list ... but they WON'T.
All in all, this is a serious and important part of the whole story of slave rights ... which still applies to the arts, in most of the world. I'm not sure that many of us, that had a miniscule hit in 1927, all of a sudden gets a play, and sells 10K copies, and the family gets a check for $100 dollars! Let's talk about how much a Douglas made on a movie that he ripped off for $10K? We're talking over $100 million 40 years ago or so. He never gave the guy a "tip" either.
My ONLY recommendation is that you find an "entertainment" lawyer, or one that is familiar with "copyrights", pay him his $600 and then follow what he/she says. But, the story, still goes, that when you do this, you better make it on your own ... because no one will touch you, until they can buy you out!
There you have it ... the mis-interpreted side of copyrights ... and by the way, you really do not want even to come close to the situation on my dad's work in 36 languages ... do you know how much the family trust gets? ... you got it ... 5 cents per month! I guess things don't sell too hot in Africa and in the Moon! And the family?
The children don't matter, anyway, who cares!