HOW TO GET PAID AS A COMPOSER and HOW TO PAY TO PLAY A COMPOSER‘S MUSIC OUT OF THE DONATIONS JAR!
This is quite important and something I would like to see established and up and running quickly. Especially since we have an opportunity to change things at the moment. Change things for the better.
I have been a member of the UK Performing Rights Society for well over 30 years. They should collect royalties on my behalf and deduct a fee for doing so as well. Putting it bluntly they are, for probably a majority of classical composers, definitely no longer fit for purpose! I write music for various ensembles and it is rarely performed in the UK. When it is, it is just missed or ignored by PRS as they can‘t cope with dedicating resources to such low returns, understandably. However, they still collect but fail to distribute. I spent a good 6 weeks looking at this problem with a fairly high up member of their staff some years ago and it all, on closer inspection, seems a futile pursuit unless you write something that is performed so often or used in the media where all the collection funtionality is automated.
Now we have the YouTube and Spotify fiascos as well as the popular free concerts by ensembles who would rather ask for a donation at the door than go through the hassle of selling tickets (required for qualification for composers to get paid anything) on top of the proliferation of photocopied parts and unapproved arrangements.... the chances of earning a fair whack as a composer are next to sweet fanny adams.
The systems are antequated and, as I wrote, not fit for purpose.
SO! What to do!
Most ensembles actually like the un-dead composers but, there is more chance of them pulling over for a dead cat than an impoverished one.
I get asked for copies of my scores so that pieces can be played. The performances even sometimes end up on YouTube. This does as much for me as playing unpaid in a pub does in recognition terms for a fledgeling band.
The answer:
If you want to play a piece by a composer, contact him directly and ask if it can be covered by the BEER PROTOCOL. If it can, ask what the beer overhead is and when the piece is performed, buy that round for the composer, just like you would another member of your ensemble after the gig.
With me, I find a piece for 1-10 players should be one coffee/beer per player. It‘s a good start as a calculation. I‘ll send a pdf and performance permission also for a nominal amount of coffee/beer.
I‘ve had orchestral pieces played in halls with audiences of 600 upwards and received nothing so some kind of arrangement is necessary. If I were to have received a decent sum sent by PRS, I then have a budget to encourage ensembles with! Mostly it‘s just the burocracy - theatre concert performances in Germany were registered with GEMA and paid by them (they told me) to PRS but they could not find a record of any payment and there is no chance of finding out what happened. These collection societies are private and not regulated, have a turnover of billions just making a cut on other people‘s work, and they miss distributing a large percentage of it.
On this coffee site you can manage payments, to buymeabeer.com/agmda buymeacoffee.com/agmda and even buymeapizza.com/agmda (agmda being my account) so it‘s much friendlier and nicer than the threats that come from collection societies and the guilt?
It works.
If you are a budding composer, an established one even and you want to discuss how this works? No problem, just buy me a coffee :-)