Pro Tips - Advice From Sync Music Professionals About
Music Business

No one told me there would be math when I first decided to be a songwriter for a living. In fact, it seemed like a great way to avoid math forever. But as it turns out, making money as a songwriter includes multiple revenue streams, all from different sources - your PRO, your publisher or administrator, the Harry Fox Agency, Music Reports, Sound Exchange and now, The MLC! All of these sources rely on unique identifiers to get you paid… and another term for those “unique identifiers” is “metadata!”  Some metadata (or identification codes) that songwriters should familiarize themselves with are: IPIs, ISWCs and ISRCs.
—Michelle Lewis, Singer-Songwriter-Composer, Creators’ Rights Advocate,
Executive Director of Songwriters of North America (SONA),
ASCAP Board Member, Recording Academy LA Chapter Board Member 
A significant amount of performance royalties come from international. Roughly one-third of BMI’s performances occur overseas, highlighting the worldwide strength and appeal of our repertoire. BMI works to ensure that when the musical works of our songwriters, composers and music publishers are publicly performed around the world, those performances are properly licensed and paid so that BMI can send those royalties to our affiliates. This happens through continual, productive communication with each of BMI’s 90-plus sister societies, focusing on a shared commitment of transparency and service to our songwriters, composers and publishers.
—Barbie Quinn, Senior Director, Administration & Publisher Relations, BMI
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Vance, Tracey and Barbie Quinn
Maximize your collection rights affiliations. There are many differences between the US and international markets. There are revenue collections and particular rights that are applicable outside the US such as broadcast mechanicals, neighboring rights and copyright shares, etc. So it pays to have learned assistance in creating your strategy in order to benefit to the fullest in all rights and royalties available worldwide.
—Teri Nelson Carpenter, President & CEO, Reel Muzik Werks, AIMP President, Executive Vice President of the Independent Music Publishers International Forum
I always enjoyed songwriting and writing instrumental music but did not focus on writing for sync until later in my career. It was a light-bulb moment for me when I realized that writing for synch could create a passive income stream that could last for years.
—Brian Thomas Curtin, Composer/Songwriter, Eaglestone Music