The Cue Sheet Is How the Composer Gets Paid

A composer's fee is paid once, at delivery. The performance royalty is a second payment, and it only arrives if a document exists that tells a performing rights organization (PRO) whose music played and how. That document is the cue sheet, and on most projects it is somebody else's job to file it.

It gets missed at the end of a schedule, after picture lock and after the mix, when everyone has moved on. A clerical task, with real money behind it.

What the sheet records

A cue sheet is a log of every piece of music in the production. Each line carries the cue title, how the music was used, its duration, and the writer and publisher shares, as BMI describes it. Television sheets add the episode and air date; one royalty-free music library's guide to cue sheets lists the responsible PRO for each cue too.

It starts as the music editor's log. The music supervisor or producer refines it until it matches the final cut. One more reason to keep temp music out of the delivered mix: anything that survives to picture lock needs a line, and every line needs rights behind it.

Who files it, and why it is not the composer

The production company or network files the sheet. ASCAP says it typically accepts cue sheets only from a production company or network, not directly from members. BMI pays cues based on the sheet it receives from the production company, and asks members not to register film or TV cues to their own catalog.

So the composer's leverage is the agreement. Many composers write a deal point that the production company is responsible for submitting cue sheets. For the composer, that clause is worth more than it looks. For the producer, the task is yours whether or not it's written down.

The cue sheet is also a different document from the credit list. A credit on screen pays no one. A line on a cue sheet does.

The money itself does not come from the production. Broadcasters and venues pay licence fees to the PROs, and those fees are divided among writers and publishers according to what the sheets report.

Usage type and splits change the payout

A cue is not just present or absent. Usage categories such as opening or closing theme, featured instrumental and background instrumental are recorded on the sheet, and they are not all paid alike. A cue under dialogue and a theme over the main titles are different lines, and they pay differently.

Splits matter just as much. Writers and publishers often divide royalties evenly, but they can agree something else, and if they have, the sheet should say so, or the PRO cannot administer it. A missing co-composer, a wrong publisher or a wrong PRO sends money to the wrong place. Corrections after filing are possible, but slower than getting it right the first time.

Timing and affiliation

For television, ASCAP's guidance is to file no later than three months after the original broadcast. For a theatrical feature, file before the first foreign theatrical performance, so the foreign societies can process it. Earlier is better on both counts.

The other half is on the composer. BMI says a writer must be affiliated before the music is performed to be paid for that performance. A composer with no PRO affiliation generates no performance royalty, and the sheet has no one to credit.

Direct or source licensed performances are a separate case: ASCAP cannot collect a licence fee for them, so it pays nothing on those. Know which kind of licence a cue is under before assuming the sheet will pay.

What we check

We ask to see the draft cue sheet before it goes out, and we read it against the composer agreement: names, publishers, PRO, shares, usage. Then we keep a copy. It's a short read, and far cheaper than chasing a correction after the delivery has closed.

If a score is being performed live in the room, as in what changes when the score is played in the room, the paperwork is different again. Either way, the music pillar of a film is not finished until the sheet is.