The best part of the digital age of music production is access. You can upload your music to a number of sites and have it be available to be heard around the world instantly. If you want to get paid, things can get a little complicated. That’s where performance rights organizations (PROs) come in.
Every time your music is played on the radio (an Internet streaming service, in a club, on TV, in a restaurant or any other public setting) you are technically entitled to royalties. The problem is knowing if a club across the world plays your music. Also, if you don’t know about what’s owed to you, how can expect to collect it?
PROs can be defined as “societies responsible for collecting income on behalf of songwriters and music publishers when a song is publicly broadcast.” The way they work is that clubs, restaurants, streaming services and anyone else who publicly plays music pays them a fee. Then the PROs distribute the royalties from those fees to their registered artists (minus a small cut, of course).
In addition to collecting and distributing your royalties, PROs often retain the right to sue on your behalf in order to protect your copyright. They can also handle the licensing of your music to other parties. Additionally, each PRO offers it’s own set of unique benefits, like workshops, networking events, travel discounts and health insurance plans.
While there are obvious benefits to joining a PRO–many major acts do, by the way–you should always read the fine print. As some artists have discovered the hard way, some PROs ask for exclusive control over the licensing of your music.
Typically, royalties are divvied up between two parties: the composer (or songwriter) and the publisher. If you’re self-published this often means that you would register as each.
In the U.S., there are three PROs: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI) and Society of European Stage Authors & Composers (SESAC). ASCAP and BMI are by far the larger of the two, probably due to the fact that SESAC membership is by invitation only.
Joining a PRO can lead to extra income from your music as well as opportunities to engage with other professional music producers. Royalty collection and payout are often grouped into one service. So, if you’re interested in becoming a member of one, we recommend looking into some of the extra benefits each has to offer and going the one that best serves all your needs.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
