Prepare the royalties report

The Royalties tab (Tantiemen in German) turns the setlist you just played into the performed-songs list a performance-rights society asks for. It is a preparation aid: SetlistForge files nothing and sends nothing to any society. For eight societies it draws a PDF that is not an official document; for Buma/Stemra it fills in Buma's own published sheet. Either way you check every entry and submit it yourself.

Only the writers of the songs are paid: if you play songs you wrote and you are a member, the report is how those performances reach you. For a covers set the report credits the original writers.

Which societies

GEMA (Germany), SUISA (Switzerland), AKM (Austria), ASCAP and BMI (USA), PRS for Music (UK), SABAM (Belgium), SOCAN (Canada) and Buma/Stemra (Netherlands). Tick the ones you are registered with under Report to. The first time, SetlistForge ticks the society that matches your interface language where there is one (GEMA for German, Buma/Stemra for Dutch, and so on); change it any time. Each society gets its own PDF with its own disclaimer, table headers and language — SUISA in de-CH, fr-CH or it-CH; SABAM in nl-BE or fr-BE; SOCAN in en-CA or fr-CA.

Portal societies — AKM, PRS for Music, ASCAP, BMI and SOCAN take setlists only by typing them into their website. Next to the PDF you get a copy-ready list: each song's details, ready to paste into the portal one field at a time.

Buma/Stemra is different: instead of a PDF you get Buma's own submission sheet (Buma opgave live, the Excel file from their website), filled in — the performance on the Speellijst sheet, the songs on Repertoire A. Upload it in MijnBumaStemra under Live → Setlists ("upload Excel").

What each song needs

Every report lists work title, composer, lyricist, ISWC and duration per song. Title, composer and duration are required for every society except Buma/Stemra, which needs a title and at least one rights holder (composer or lyricist) and no duration. Enter them on the song in the Library (the add-song form says which fields the reports need). Incomplete songs are tagged in the preview — COMPOSER MISSING, DURATION MISSING.

• Medleys — mark a song as a medley and list its parts, each with its own writers and duration. Every report gives each part its own row (for GEMA marked as a medley part), so every writer is credited.
• Chinese, Japanese and Korean titles or names cannot be printed in the PDFs yet. Such songs are flagged before the export — add a Latin transcription to the song for the report. Accented, Polish, Czech, Greek and Cyrillic text prints correctly, in the show details as well.

The manual details

Below the preview each ticked society shows its own fieldset:

• GEMA — organiser (name and address), type of event (Concert, Club, Festival, Other), ticket price, estimated number of visitors, GEMA member number, person responsible for the programme. Arranger and publisher come from the song in the Library.
• SUISA Tariff K — ticket revenue or event costs (CHF), capacity band, PDF language, plus the event details Tariff K asks for: organiser, event duration without breaks, ticket price and the musicians. Arranger comes from the song in the Library.
• AKM — the programme is prepared as a PDF and a copy-ready list for the AKM service portal.
• ASCAP OnStage — performance start time, 24-hour HH:MM.
• BMI Live — venue phone number.
• PRS for Music — PRS member number (9 or 11 digits), headliner or support act, and the UK venue postcode — or, for a show abroad, the country.
• SABAM — ticket revenue or performer pay (EUR), PDF language.
• SOCAN — promoter phone number, PDF language.
• Buma/Stemra — city (Buma asks for it separately from the venue), country from Buma's own list (Nederland is the default), fee and organiser (both optional). Date, show title, venue and performing artist come from the show header. Buma's sheet lists composer and lyricist together, comma separated.

Every society needs the show's date and venue from the show header. Fields save as you type.

Export

1. Tap Export royalty report (at the top of the tab, or again under the song list).
2. If songs or fields are incomplete you get a list of what is missing. Complete fields takes you straight to the first gap — the song in the Library, or the field on this tab; Export anyway produces the report with the gaps marked.
3. With several societies ticked, a preflight lists the files that will be generated; confirm with Generate PDFs. Safari must allow repeated downloads for more than one file.

Each PDF page carries the society's disclaimer (the Buma sheet is Buma's own and carries none). Take the PDF or the copy-ready list to the portal and enter the figures there.

Reported?

Once you have submitted a show, mark it as reported on the Royalties tab. The mark is saved with the setlist, so you can see at a glance which shows are done and which are still open.

The society pages on the landing (/setlist-forge/gema and so on) describe what each report prepares in that society's language.