Who sets the royalty fees charged through Tresóna?
You can read more about how royalty fees are determined and how much Tresóna pays songwriters and music publishers here.
What does "most favored nations" or "MFN" mean and why does it increase estimates, invoices, or royalty fees due?
At a very high level, "most favored nations" ("MFN" for short) refers to the practice of treating all music publishers or songwriters on equal footing on the best terms possible.
For example, if Publisher A and Publisher B each own 50% of Song, Tresóna must issue the license for Song to a licensee on the most favorable terms to both Publisher A and Publisher B. If Publisher A wishes to charge $250.00 for a license, but Publisher B wants to charge $500.00 for a license, Tresóna must issue the license for $500.00, even though Publisher A requested a smaller royalty fee.
MFN is standard in the music publishing and record label industries, and Tresóna is required to apply MFN in the following circumstances:
- Medley requests
- Songs used in a single video
- Single song with co-publishers
MFN can dramatically increase royalty fees for a given request and could result in an increase in the invoiced amount for a given work. For example, suppose a licensee submits a print (custom arrangement) license request for a medley of Song A and Song B. Song A is approved for $350.00, but Song B remains pending. The temporary invoice will reflect that the cost for using Song A is $350.00. However, if Song B is subsequently approved for $500.00, the invoice will be updated to reflect that Song A now costs $500.00 and Song B also costs $500.00.
Changes can also occur if a licensee subsequently edits their request. In the example above, if the licensee removes Song B from the request, the license fee for Song A will be reset to $350.00. However, if the licensee adds a new song to the medley - Song C - and Song C has a royalty fee of $1,000.00, then the royalty fee due for Songs A and B will also increase to $1,000.00.
Why is my invoice so much higher than the estimate I saw when applying for the license?
There are many reasons the estimated royalty fee may be lower than the final royalty fee charged. As an initial matter, the estimates Tresóna provides are for informational purposes only and cannot be relied upon as "true" estimates that you might see in other industries (e.g., construction). The estimates are based on the most recently available data that Tresóna possesses, including prior royalty fees charged for the use of the song and the publisher's automated royalty fee settings uploaded to our system. These estimates represent Tresóna's "best guess" for what the royalty fee might be, but ultimately publishers and songwriters decide what to charge.
The primary reason for any variance is that the publisher has subsequently increase the royalty fee being charged. The secondary reason for variations is that the song requested is now owned by a new publisher who charges a different amount for the use of the work than the former publisher. The third most common reason for variances is that the licensee has adjusted the request in some way, including by adding songs into a medley, in which case MFN (discussed above) can affect the royalty fees due.
Finally, it is possible that there has been an IT error. Despite our best efforts, technology can sometimes create unanticipated results. If you have questions or concerns about the royalty fee charged (and any variations in estimates or invoices), please contact our support team at info@tresonamultimedia.com and we would be happy to review what occurred.