Licenses screens allow entry of the license details, project and licensee information, and royalty distribution information.
Licenses are typically added for a single musical work (ex: a sync license for use of a song in a tv show). When these types of licenses are added, the selection of the licensed musical work triggers a process that will automatically initialize “suggested” royalty amounts based on the Song Catalog royalty splits for copyright owners (Publisher’s, Songwriters, Master Owners) flagged as “controlled” or for Income Participants as indicated on the musical work. These baseline calculations provide a starting point for your royalty calculations. They should then be reviewed and manually adjusted to show actual royalty disbursement amounts.
A catalog based license (ex: “opt in” licensing opportunities for the entire song catalog, with Harry Fox Agency or other licensing agents) may also be added. These types of licenses are typically for documentation of acceptance of an “opt in” opportunity for the catalog, and as such there is no royalty component.
Licenses are accessed via the drop-down list in the Licensing module. This will display a list of licenses sorted by Status (ascending order) and License Date (descending order). Here you can Add New, Edit, and View licenses.
Add a License
Adding a license is a two step process,
- Add License / Initialize “Suggested” Royalty Amounts
Use the Add New function which allows you to type in basic information describing the license, project, licensee contact information, and payment information, and select the musical work that is being licensed.
- Review and Adjust Initialized Royalty Amounts
When a musical work title is selected for a license, the system will use the royalty splits defined in the Song Catalog to initialize “suggested” royalty amounts for copyright owners (Publisher’s, Songwriters, Master Owners) flagged as “controlled” or for Income Participants as indicated on the musical work. These baseline calculations provide a starting point for your royalty calculations. These amounts should then be reviewed and manually adjusted to show actual royalty disbursement amounts based on your royalty procedures.
From the Licenses list, use Add new to add a new license.
This displays a screen that will allow you to add basic information about the license. Enter the license data on to the screen. If the license is attached to a musical work, be sure to select the SONG TITLE so that royalties may be initialized.
Data Entry Tips
Status - this field is automatically initialized as “Active” when adding the license. The drop-down list is controlled by License Status Codes which can be customized to fit your business model. The Status field also controls how the records appear in Licenses List View (sorted in ascending order),
Type - The drop-down list is controlled by License Types codes, which can be customized to fit your business model.
Song Royalty & Master Royalty - These fields are used by the royalty component when calculating “suggested” royalty amounts for the musical work’s copyright owners and other royalty recipients. Be sure that the values specified in these two fields are valid values and are accurate before you proceed.
The Song Royalty is typically initialized with the total License Amount, and the Master Royalty initialized as 0. However, if the Type is “SYNC & MASTER” the Song Royalty and Master Royalty will be calculated by dividing the License Amount by 2 (50% for the song / 50% for the master). If your license had a different split between song and master, you would need to adjust these amounts accordingly. When you then select the SONG TITLE, the initialized "suggested" royalty amounts for the musical work will be controlled the the Song Royalty and the royalty amounts calculated for the sound recording will be controlled by the Master Royalty that you have specified.
After you have finished adding the information, click Save to add the license. This will also initialize “suggested” royalty amounts for the copyright owners of the musical work (if a musical work is associated with the license).
Pressing Save will take you back to the Licenses list screen. Select the newly added song and click on Edit to review and adjust the initialized “suggested” royalty amounts for accuracy based on your royalty procedures.
Go to the ROYALTY SPLITS section of the license (lower part of the screen), and review each line item for accuracy. Make adjustments to the amounts as needed by clicking on Edit next to the royalty line item that you would like to update. Update the data and press Save to save the updates.
When finished with all updates to the license data and the royalty splits, press Save and then Back to List to return to the List View.