By Tiffany Brooks

I used to wonder if PROs were like unions for songwriters and composers.  In some ways yes, but they don’t force membership in order to get work like some unions do.  Joining these organizations is completely voluntary.  In some cases, music buyers may do a direct licensing deal with the composer to cut out the PROs.  In fact, ASCAP has admitted that they’ve lost millions because of this. 

The idea of having these organizations in existence is good, however, nothing is ever perfect and they’ve had their fair share of complaints by the very people that they represent.

The complaints vary from pitting songwriters against media composers to abusive board members who don’t seem to believe in term limits as explained in this article over at Film Music Magazine.  Some have accused them of caring more about songwriters and not as much about composers who write for media.

On the other hand, there have been some bright spots as well.  According to an article over at Wired Magazine, BMI “distributed a record amount of royalties to its member songwriters, composers, and publishing companies for fiscal year 2006-2007.  Royalties of $732 million  constituted an 8 percent increase over the previous year.”  This is a result of the successful licensing of music across a diverse range of media, and revenue growth in foreign markets.

They have streamlined their royalty collection process for media composers by using an online sheet cue service called RapidCue.  Film Music magazine explains,”RapidCue is a secured website that allows users to enter, manage and electronically submit music cue sheet data for television, cable and film productions to BMI and ASCAP.”  ASCAP and BMI in conjunction with the participation of the film, television production and television network communities agreed upon this service.

Overall, I think PROs are still valid and they do have the songwriters, composers and publishers best interests at heart.  They have a lot of work to do in terms of  improving the operations of their organizations, but I believe that they will straighten out their issues.  If they don’t, they won’t hear the last of it from their members.