Theme Royalties

[Birchy]

If - for example - the detective series Van der Valk is repeated on TV, would the writers of 'Eye Level' receive royalties for the theme music? Or do writers generally 'sign off' continued royalties by agreeing to a lump sum at the outset?

[The Rutt]

They could sell the rights to the song

[Hellion]

Depends on the contract they had, but as Eye Level was a hit in it's own right I suspect they have royalties. There are basically 4 types of royalties. Publishing royalties go to the writer, Mechanical royalties go to the writers on the 'pressing' of the album/single, Sales Royalties are self explanatory and is usually divided between, performers, writers and record companies and then the one which would apply in your case is Performance Royalty. This is administered by the Performance Rights Society PRS, they ensure the writer gets the performance royalty. Therefore if you write and perform you rake it in as you get all four royalties, it's also why you usually get all the infighting in bands because often only one is the song writer and they get more money than the rest of the band! Hope that helps

[Hellion]

Sorry I forgot to say you get the Performance royalty every time the song is played eg on radio or TV even lift music.