we're gonna be on the radio - what should i know?

T

trdn1

New member
i talked a radio guy in denver into playing our music, we're sending off our cd tomorrow. is there anything i can do with this? its just a college/local music show, so to get on a major radio stations main air play, will we need to register (or whatever you call it) with ascap or something like it before we send it in? just wondering if anyone else out there has been through this...just tell me a story about what you did, thanks
 
Hopefully, you've already copyrighted the songs.
The next step is publishing and registering the songs.
My partner and I are members of ASCAP, and we are registered publishers through them, and we send copies of our new material to ASCAP before it gets radio airplay.
The reason for doing this is simple...
Should your songs actually "take off", ASCAP is able to monitor the airplay of radio stations around the world who play your music, thus, providing you with royalties for the airplay.
It's pretty cheap to join. I just renewed my annual membership a couple of months ago. It cost me 7 bucks.
Check them out right here...

http://www.ascap.com
 
it says to join ascap you have to:
commercially recorded (CD, record, tape, etc.);
or, performed publicly in any venue licensable by ASCAP (club, live concert, symphonic concert or recital venue, college or university, etc.);
or, performed in any audio visual or electronic medium (film, television, radio, Internet, cable, pay-per-view, etc.);
or, published and available for sale or rental.

we did the recording in house, not pro, and it sounds like the music had to have been played on the radio before registering...
 
what is the copyright number they ask for? and why do they only ask for one song? i would like to get the whole album under ascap i guess...
 
The copyright number that they ask for is the number that was issued (by the US Copyright Office) when you copyrighted your work. So, if you haven't filed a copyright registration form, you should do so now. They ask for one song, because it is possible to file a copyright on or play on a single. Once your membership is accepted, all of your songs can be covered under ASCAP (by filing out ASCAP's song registration forms).

BTW, you should consider membership in BMI ( http://www.bmi.com ), also (if you haven't already). Firstly, BMI membership is free. Also, BMI does not require having put out a commercial release prior to membership, as ASCAP does. So, the process is a bit quicker and less painful. The organizations are about equivalent in how they practice and pay performance royalties.

Rev E
 
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