Can you make money from a live performance even if you play for free? Here's how!
Last week after our EML seniors played two fun and exciting free performances at the NUS Student Life Fair, NUS Centre for the Arts asked them to fill up this form.
This is the form that tells COMPASS (Composers and Authors Society of Singapore), the organization that helps collect fees on behalf of composers and songwriters, what songs were performed at a show. When you perform at NUS, you don't have to pay any fees to COMPASS - the university pays an annual fee to them for all the songs that are played on campus through the year. That's why bands can play cover songs, musical groups can perform works by composers, and clubs societies can play recorded tracks on campus, totally legally.
If you are an independent electronic musician or singer-songwriter, this is an opportunity for you.
If you have written a song (or created it in Ableton Live, as we do) and you register it with COMPASS, then every time someone (including yourself) performs that song in public, COMPASS will pay you a share of the fees that they collect from the venue (in this case, NUS).
This also works when you perform in a club or any public venue (Esplanade, Victoria Concert Hall) because those venues pay COMPASS annually. It also works if a friendly DJ plays your song during their set. Just fill in the Submission form and send it to COMPASS!
It doesn't matter which version of the song you perform, as long as you report that you played the song. COMPASS has relied on this manual submission method for decades and it does not involve any content ID matching.
The more times your report that your song has been played (by you or by others), the more COMPASS recognizes that you are a composer or songwriter who deserves royalties. After enough submissions, they will send you on royalties every year.
How do I register my song with COMPASS?
Read here to find out from COMPASS website
Don't delay, register your songs now, and remember to submit the form the next time you perform them!
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