Understanding Cue Sheets

If the mere mention of cue-sheets, synchronization royalties, and performance royalties cause you to curl up in the fetal position and break into a cold sweat, you're not alone. A basic understanding of these music licensing terms should help you breathe easy and let you focus on what's really important, producing great work.

Synchronization Royalty: A licensing fee paid to the owner of a piece of music for the right to synchronize the music with your audio and/or visual works. Many music libraries will charge this fee each and every time you synchronize a song in your work. On the contrary, Studio Cutz Music Library offers a Lifetime Synchronization License, also known as a royalty free license or a buyout license. This means that we charge a one-time fee, and allow you to synchronize the music as frequently as you like.

Performance Royalty: Royalties paid by a broadcaster on an annual basis to a performing rights organization such as Ascap, Bmi, or Sesac. It is important to note that 99% of all broadcasters pay a fixed amount each year for performance royalties. The same broadcasting fee applies whether the music was a buyout, standard license, a popular hit song, or a relatively unknown piece of production music. As a general rule, unless you are the actual broadcaster (ie; television station, cable network, etc.), performance royalties are not something you should ever have to pay for.

So where do cue-sheets fit into the picture? A cue sheet is merely a form filled out with the details of all the music used in a particular program; the composer name, publisher name, how many minutes and seconds of each track was used, etc. Cue-sheets are required for each program that is broadcast. If your work is not being broadcast, no cue-sheets are required.

The purpose of a cue-sheet is so that the composer and publisher can properly collect their performance royalties from that fixed amount the broadcaster has already paid to Ascap and Bmi. No money is saved by not filling in a cue-sheet, and no extra money is paid by anyone as a result of properly filling in a cue-sheet. It is simply a means to make sure that the money already paid by the broadcaster is properly dispersed to the deserving writers and composers.

People often ask how a music library is able to create high quality music and license it at such low prices. Much of the answer lies in cue-sheets. If a cue-sheet is properly filled out, our composers get their fair share of the broadcast royalty pie and we can keep our licensing fees low. If cue sheets are not properly turned in, the money goes into a "surplus" account, which eventually gets distributed out to the most played artists like Britney Spears and Garth Brooks.

So the next time you work on a production for broadcast, don't buy Garth a new belt buckle.... Take a moment to fill out a simple cue-sheet. You'll be helping a composer collect a buck or two that are rightfully his, and you'll help keep the cost of production music affordable!