ASCAP vs. BMI on TJB original tunes

[B-Dub]

OK...a music industry question: Why are some of the TJB tracks written by the "in-house" stable of composers (Alpert, Lake, Coleman, Wechter, et al) listed as ASCAP songs (Almo Music) or BMI songs (Irving Music)? I understand that both of these organizations are PROs (performing rights organizations), which collect royalties from radio airplay, live concert performances, Muzak, etc. But why list some songs under one and not the other?

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I always thought it was for tax reasons, but maybe not...



Dan

 

[Mike Blakesley]

All songs are covered by one and not the other. In other words, you would never see (BMI) and ASCAP after the same tune.

Writers are members of one or the other organization, so it's possible they switched at some point. No idea why they would have....maybe one had a more favorable system for calculating the royalties.

 

[B-Dub]

I do understand that songs are covered by either one or the other PROs exclusively, but why did A&M have two publishing houses (Almo and Irving), with each of them being represented by different PROs? I've seen this with other recording labels, as well as other writers (for instance, some writers having two publishing companies, one with BMI, and one with ASCAP...or SESAC or PRS). A curiosity to me!

 

[JMK]

B-Dub is right--any individual writer can have two (or more) publishing companies and have them registered with ASCAP and/or BMI. The old-school theory used to be that BMI operated more like a "pyramid scheme," with the longest registered members receiving more royalties than the "newbies," while ASCAP was more of a level playing field. That was the way it was personally described to me by my music attorney many years ago when I chose to join ASCAP (as both a writer and publisher). I've since found out that they both handle royalties more or less the same way.

 

[B-Dub]

Could it be, possibly, that some writers are BMI writers and others are ASCAP writers, and that A&M Records created two publishing catalogs to accomodate the writers' PROs?

 

[Mr Bill]

Could it be, possibly, that some writers are BMI writers and others are ASCAP writers, and that A&M Records created two publishing catalogs to accomodate the writers' PROs?

From the looks of it I say that's more than likely the case. While most of Herb's compositions are Almo he does have a few Irvings. Not to contradict a prior post, but you can have songs represented by both BMI and ASCAP -- one of Herb's solo efforts where he co-wrote the tunes have both as he went with Almo and the co-writer went with BMI. I can only imagine it's a nightmare for the bean counters at the various publishing entities...

--Mr Bill

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Not to contradict a prior post, but you can have songs represented by both BMI and ASCAP -- one of Herb's solo efforts where he co-wrote the tunes have both as he went with Almo and the co-writer went with BMI.

Yup, just look at the writing credits on the Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela album.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I mis-worded my post...it's the WRITER who is represented by BMI or ASCAP. The point I was trying to make is, if a song has a sole writer, it can't be represented by both.