Just received the wonderful news our third CD submission to Pump Audio has been accepted and they are now processing our music.  This CD titled Songs2Share Mixtape #1 is a compilation of the works of 4 songwriters, including yours truly.  One of the songs is a cover recorded by an artist who chose 2 of our songs to cover on license for demo exchange.  It is our goal to get your music the largest audience & getting into Pump’s catalog is a good thing.  Congratulation Chip, Clare & Frank & all the artists who worked on the songs that are now being marketed by Pump Audio.  Congratulations to Olga who had her CD that S2S submitted for her, also accepted.  Here’s their e-mail for your perusal.

Congratulations, your music has been successfully reviewed for the Pump catalog.

 

Your tracks will now go through a detailed classification process and then may be routed to one or more of Pump’s licensing vehicles such as our Pumpbox, our online Soundtrack tool, and other web-based sites. Note it may take up to six months before your music appears on any of these locations as they are updated at different intervals.

 

Please note that due to the large volume of music submissions and the careful review of your music it may take as many as six months to process your music. The steps are:

A.     Detailed classification of your music. We code your music by genre, mood, speed and lots of other important categories to make it easy for our clients to find your music (supplying lyrics helps a lot too!).

B.     Multi-pass QA of your music classifications to guarantee consistency.

C.     Addition of your music to one or more of Pump’s catalogs.

 

Remember:

1.      We can’t predict if or when your music will be licensed by one of our clients.

2.      We can only pay you for music placements after the client reports the use and pays Pump.

3.      We send out payments twice a year, no later than sixty days following the January - June and July - December pay periods.

4.      If you are a U.S. resident, we can’t pay you unless we have a W9 on file. See below for more information.

5.      Check out our FAQ for additional information: http://www.pumpaudio.com/artists/faq.php

GETTING YOU PAID..

**Only send us a W9 if you’ve never sent one before or if your name, address or tax ID has changed. **

-> U.S. Residents
Internal Revenue Service requires that we have W-9’s on file for all U.S. residents that receive royalty payments from us.

 Please complete the “W-9 Form - Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification” and return it to us via U.S. mail. Failure to do so will require Pump Audio, Inc. to withhold 28% from all future payments. You can download the W-9 here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw9.pdf.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact your personal tax advisor.

-> Non-U.S. Residents

Please be advised that Pump Audio, Inc. is required to withhold 30% of any U.S. sourced payment made to non-US Residents. This withholding tax can be reduced if a foreign payee is a resident of a foreign country with which the U.S. has an income tax treaty as long as certain requirements are met (see below):

Requirements

In order to avoid the 30% withholding, a foreign payee must provide Pump Audio, Inc. with a completed Form W-8BEN (Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding). You can find this form here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf  In this form, a payee must provide a U.S. taxpayer identification number and certify that:

·         He or she is a resident of a treaty country

·         He or she is a beneficial owner of the income

·         It meets any limitation on the benefits provision contained in the treaty, if applicable.

If a foreign payee does not have a U.S. taxpayer identification number, he/she can apply for one by filing Form W-7 (Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) with the IRS: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf. Pump Audio can provide the letter you will need to certify a business relationship with Pump Audio/Getty Images once your music has been accepted. It often takes 4-6 weeks to process this request.

These forms along with the appropriate instructions for completion can be found on the U.S. Internal Revenue Service website @ http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html If you have questions or need assistance with the completion of these forms, please contact either the IRS through their website, http://www.irs.gov/contact/index.html , where you can find phone numbers listed. You can also consult your personal tax advisor or accountant for assistance. Unfortunately, Pump Audio cannot assist with the filling out or filing of these forms.

Direct Deposit

Payments will be mailed to your address on-file or you have the option of direct deposit into your bank account. If desired, fill out the following form and send it to Pump Audio.  It asks for basic bank information, a voided check and your signature.

http://www.pumpaudio.com/artists/pdfs/paymentform-electronicdeposit.pdf

Remember, double-check the bank information, include a voided check and sign it.

All forms should be mailed to:

ARTIST RELATIONS

Pump Audio, INC.

P.O. Box 458

Tivoli, NY 12583 USA

p.s. We also accepted scanned forms in Adobe PDF format. After signing the forms, scan them and send them to artistrelations@pumpaudio.com with the Subject Line: “Submission#/Media# [put the actual # here], W9 & Direct Deposit”.

What kinds of uses are possible for my music?

Pump Audio will use our connections around the world to try to place your music in television, radio, Internet, film and other media. Pump will enter the music into its database, along with certain descriptive terms and your name. Customers, utilizing our search engine, will be able to locate and audition your music. Possible uses include commercials, promotional spots, background music, on a CD-ROM game, accompanying web site banner ads - anything that benefits from audio enhancement. Most uses will only be a few seconds in duration.

Does Pump actively “push” my music to clients?

No. Instead, we make it easy for our clients to find the music they want through the very easy search interface available on the Pumpbox and Soundtrack music search tool.

The PumpBox is a hard drive containing the very best music from our catalog. Clients are then able to search through tens of thousands of songs by genre, mood, instrument and tempo at their fingertips. Because the PumpBox is attached to the client’s video editing workstation (e.g. Avid or Final Cut Pro) the music is right there at their fingertips.

The Soundtrack tool is a simplified, online version of the PumpBox available to anyone with Internet access. Whereas the Pumpbox is most appropriate for high volume production houses who need 40-50 cues in a 30 minute TV episode, the Soundtrack tool is often used by advertising agencies looking for that single song for their 60 second TV commercial.

When can I expect to get paid?

Pump only pays you after we receive payment from the client. We can only pay you once we receive both a report from the client that your song was used and the payment for that use. In some cases, the reporting of a use and the payment of the use come at different times. You will receive payment in the pay period that Pump receives payment from the client. In many cases, this may be well after the show has aired.  

As per the License Agreement payments are distributed twice a year no later than 60 days after the end of each of the following pay periods: from January 1^st to June 30^th and from July 1^st to December 31^st.

Also, please be advised that all inquiries regarding your artist payment and will be handled by the Getty Images, Pump’s parent company. Any future updates or requests for payment or contact information updates can be made via email:  contributor.updates@gettyimages.com

Thanks & Regards,
Pump Audio Inc.

Here’s a copy of an e-mail I sent out today.  It updates you about our program. ~ R 

Hello David.  You song Lost In Blue is very good.  I did a once through & immediately thought of the recent & open, call for music at Music Dealers for an old time 50s or 60s Country song about loneliness.  This song you’ve made can hop over to Country rather nicely.  The goal of the Songs2Share program – one of the goals – is to set up a group of songwriters & artists so we can submit to these calls by creating a new recording if needed – on short notice. 

 I’ve thought of approaching demo companies, as they already have some melodies in their catalog to choose.  They also make melodies on a regular basis & can work fast.  & they own good recording equipment.

 May I send this MP3 to one demo company I’ve worked with, along with a copy of the Call For Music from the MusicDealers.com board & tell them about what I’m doing & see if they’ll sign on?

 I’d like to see the lyric & perhaps, tweak that 2^nd verse.  I heard several images & while I know you like your images, just want to check the flow.  The first verse flows so nicely, the 2^nd verse is where most songwriters hang up.  It’s that verse you got to watch.  You put the short i in your rhyme, which is the same as the i sound in your title – Lost IN Blue which is great.  Do you have a long u rhyme?  Might be a good idea. 

 We won’t be able to get a recording for this call.  I think it ends the 12^th.  But one step at a time.  Also, I’ve decided to add purchase of a lifetime license to Indie artists (sold less than 100,000 CDs) to our license agreement.  How much to charge is still open.  I made a survey form & posted the link at our MySpace page.  If you can go there and take the survey, I’d appreciate it very much.  I’m doing this all alone & any help at this point, is gladly accepted.

 We sold our first song license to a recording artist over 2 years ago.  A couple of teenage twins in the UK called Duo Canto.  Their pic is in our top friends at MySpace and you can go listen to their vocal cover of our song Celebrate The Day at their page (which you should cover too! – I have 5 female covers & no males & you have a lovely vocal!  Wish we could buy you some studio time & get a radio quality recording David+).  Legally, because their license is expired they should have to remove that song from their MySpace page.  But I don’t want them to take it down & it’s one of my co-writes & Clare doesn’t care either.  It is exposure & they should be able to sell that recording for the rest of their lives.

 They’ll never sound like that again – ever.  It’s a wonderful vocal performance.  So to me as a songwriter, they can have that song forever & sell their recording, even if they make it big & sell a million copies for the one time license fee, they gave that song EXPOSURE – S2S goal, another one, get the song the LARGEST audience.  The SONG.  & the songwriter will earn royalties. 

 So = how much should a lifetime license be?  And, are you willing to let the artist take your song & hopefully, make a hit for that one time fee?  I sure the heck am.  It’s non-exclusive so you sell as many licenses to as many Indie artists as you can find that want to buy a license.  & maybe a major artist will hear the song & come knocking to record the song.  These are also Non-Broadcast licenses.  If they want to get their recording onto the radio, they have to come back & buy a Broadcast License, which is on the back burner as it demands research to get the text right.  I think the future of music will eliminate the Performing Right Organizations as they are a middle man/middle management and the radios may get a better deal for themselves & the songwriters & performers, by buying flat licenses for blocks of music directly from music brokers.  The major performance monitoring station in the USA was turned off by the longtime family that used to run it, a few years ago – so I’ve been told.  So monitoring & paying middle people will go down kicking & fighting as music continues to evolve.  Just my thought.

 $250.00.  That’s a good price.  If an artist can’t afford that or doesn’t want to pay that much but wants to cover one of our songs, & I do go around telling artists at MySpace = “You should cover Celebrate The Day (or another title) for free.  It works with your vocal style” when I find a match– a lot, so I’m putting the word out, “- on a demo for license exchange.”  They make a recording that Songs2Share feels can be used to market that song, they get a lifetime license to make as many recordings and sell them & keep the money, perform the song forever, and try to get a licensed placement if they choose to market.  The original songwriter still owns a royalty percentage of any licensed fee & the recording artist owns a percentage of any licensed fee their first recording earns as well – while the songwriter can sell or give away copies of the new recording & keep all monies generated.  This is also a Non-Broadcast license.  If the recording artist wants to get their song on the radio, they have to come  back & purchase a Broadcast License.  So the artist gets a well crafted song, makes the recording, gives all rights to that recording to the songwriter except a % of licensing fees generated, & then they can perform, record & sell copies of any recording forever.  If I can get a great, even good recording of one of my songs that I own except to share with the recording artist any licensed fees generated, I’m happy to give them a lifetime license.

 A lot of people write a lot of new songs every day.  If you want to get your songs attention, & an artist to cover them, give them a good deal & they will give your song EXPOSURE.

 Peace.~ RobertaS2S  

  ps.  Music Dealers splits their license fees 50/50 with owner of the recording/songwriter.  Pump Audio splits them 65/35 with owner of the recording/songwriter for a licensed placement.  Some of the calls for music from Music Dealers are as high as $50,000.00.  You know a lot of music licensing companies are getting those same calls & sending in playlists for consideration, but you got to get ON the playlist to have a chance.  & to do that you need a radio quality recording of your song.  It’s worth it to me, to get a crew together to make custom songs for these big calls.  I’ll even write a lyric as some calls give you text they’d like in the lyric & throw my hat into the mix.  It’s sort of a music lottery, as they get such good music to choose from – you just got to hit it right for that customer.  J   

Songs2Share currently reps 24 songwriters at the Music Dealers.com website.  We also submit to Pump Audio on CD and have had 3 songwriters accepted into their catalog.  This past week we have found 2 other music licensing Internet companies that we will be reading and evaluating in the coming week to decide if we want to allow them to market our song catalog.

We charge our songwriters/artist a lean 10% for licensed placements we receive and that’s only after we get the check.  There is no cost to you for us to market your music.  Tell me where you can take your songs/music/instrumentals and sign them to a company that will market them to ARTISTS to cover as well as upload them or submit them on CD, whichever is required, to 4 music licensing companies on a non-exclusive basis seeking licensed placements of the recording?

If you know of such a company please advise as I’d like to met them & talk business.

Happy Weekend All.
~ Roberta Annicks
Founder
www.Songs2Share.com
A Song Licensing Company

Today’s tasks consisted of:
1.  Accepting 14 friend requests.  Listening to 1 song at each of their music MySpace sites.  Only 1 was not a music related request & I delete that one.  Found a couple artists that had the sound that will cover a song of ours well and told them.  Heard a couple songs I’d like to read the lyric & listen for possible acceptance into our song and music licensing catalog, and told them.

2.  Got a wonderful phone call from a co-writer about a great opportunity he has been offered and is moving across the USA country to accept.  A big moment.
3.  Loaded one new song at the website.  Typed up his lyric and posted that too.  Found out a second newly accepted song CD would not open correctly.  Not finalized.  I’ve gotten CDs I can’t open before.  So I’ll have to tell him. 

 

4.  Changed a song in the front music player at the S2S website.    Put Schroeter/Estevez’s Spanish A Donde Va’ in the music player on the front home page.  Beautiful song that perhaps I’ll tell Anna from Trigger Gospel about.  She’d be a great vocal & pianist to cover the song.

  

5.  Found 1 typo and 3 song credit mistakes in the Cover Songs at the S2S website.  Need a CODER!!!

6.  Browsed the websites built by another coder who has answered the Craigslist ad for coding work in exchange for company equity.  Sent the last prospective coder an e-mail and the main interest coder an e-mail too.  Working the coder thing.

7.  There are currently 10 different songwriters’ songs in the Songs2Share song upload box.  We’ve got songs in there from July, August, September, Ocober, November and December.  14 song uploads in all.  Now a few songs have been deleted or accepted or both so we did received more submissions than this - these are the songs been hanging around and I’m cleaning out the upload box, making room for more.

Of these songs 4 were signed into our song and music licensing catalog with 1 additional song from an accepted songwriter who had not uploaded the song.  One songwriter has submitted a lyric for my critique & revision suggestions.  I’ve asked another songwriter to do so (a co-writer’s personal song )  & we’ve got 7 pieces, 5 songs 2 instrumentals (I think) coming from Jeffrey Butzer of Germany.  They’ll be available for license shortly.
 
 

1 more holiday song titled Hot In Here which has A LOT of any genre potential.  Rew has agreed we will work the lyric after the holidays.  I gave her a suggestion to make the verse & chorus tighten up and she agrees.  But I love the groove so accepted it into our catalog as is for this holiday season.

8.  Answered a couple business e-mails & MySpace messages.  Always doing that.

Actually got a new title.  Anywhere.  Jotted down a couple lines today.  I have NOT written a new song all year…..// I’m going to have a blue Christmas if I don’t get 1 lyric finished.  That’s my goal.  I wrote other stuff this year and we did get 3 new recordings of my/our co-writes - which are all 3 lovely+ but I just goo-goo over finished manuscript. 
===Oh the title was inspired because I got a 3:30am accidental phone call last night from one of the above co-writers.  You know, the phone somehow makes a call without the caller knowing.  His phone has been doing that over 5 -6 times this past year.  I am letting the dog out at that early hour and answer the phone immediately.  I hear him in the background say “I can go anywhere in the world…” in his heavily accented sing song voice, a lovely love song voice - then a female answers in Spanish.  I wait about 20 seconds to see if he’s going to talk to me which he doesn’t so I hang up and go to bed.  But today I’m laughing hysterically at the image and wrote the title and a few lines.  Wow.
 

9.  Before the night is deep I’ve gotta post 3 ideas under Monday Inspirations at the S2S website.  These are my free ideas to you for songs, stories, paintings, poems, whatevers.  Missed a couple Mondays and really want to get on a schedule.  Now that I have a clearer vision of what Songs2Share is going to be, is already becoming, committment is necessary to achieve goals.

Peace.
~ Roberta
S2S