Dance Music Business Resource

RoyaltyOrganizations

Performance Royalties are generated every time your composition is played in public (TV, radio, café, club). In order to collect that money you have to join a Performance Royalty Organization (PRO). They monitor TV and radio and distribute the money they get according to that.

In the US the money is divided 50/50 between the song writer and the publisher. If you are the song writer, you are by default also the publisher until you have signed that right to a separate publisher. In order to collect both halves of the money you should open a business bank account under the name of your publishing company and register that with the PRO.

US Copyright Organizations

In other countries, sometimes there is less distinction between the organization that registers the copyright and the ones that collect the money on that copyright.

For some more non-US information see Global Copyright Registration

GEMA - Germany http://www.gema.de/
SGAE - Spain http://www.sgae.es/
STIM - Sweden http://www.stim.se/
UK Copyright Organizations