Recipe: make sure your sync placement gets a cue sheet (and gets paid)

A cue sheet is the list of every piece of music in a film, series or ad, with who wrote it, who publishes it, the ownership shares and how each cue is used. SOCAN calls it the document that lets performances be matched to your music: "Without the cue sheet, these performances would remain unidentified and unpaid." You signed the sync licence and got the fee. This recipe covers the second payday, the performance royalties, which depend on that sheet.

If you are new to sync, start with our sync licensing basics for indies and what a PRO is.

Who files it

The producer, usually. Koda, the Danish society, says the production company is often responsible for filling out and submitting the cue sheet, "but it could also be you." SOCAN treats the producer's sheet as the authoritative version, and also accepts sheets from broadcasters, distributors, other societies and its own members. So the filing is mostly not your job; making sure it happened, and that it matches your registrations, is.

The steps

1. Join your society if you haven't (once). In India that is IPRS. The member portal guide sets a member application fee of ₹1,200 for a lyricist or composer, ₹2,200 for a publisher, ₹3,400 for both. Full walkthrough: our IPRS recipe. Time: an evening of paperwork, then IPRS's own review, for which it publishes no timeline.
2. Register the work before it airs. In the IPRS portal, notify the work with the right category: the guide lists Film, Non-Film, Film-BG and TV-BG (BG means background music). Every field is mandatory. Koda's advice applies everywhere: register your works even though they appear on a cue sheet, and treat a film's underscore as one work named after the film, listing separately any piece that could be released on its own. Time: 10 to 20 minutes per work. Cost: nil.
3. Agree the split in writing. The cue sheet records ownership shares per piece (SOCAN). If you co-wrote, or a publisher holds part, settle the percentages now so the sheet and your registrations agree. See co-writing sessions and splits. Time: one email thread.
4. Send the producer your cue data. For each cue: exact title, writers, publisher, society, and the use (background, featured, theme). Give titles exactly as registered. Time: 30 minutes.
5. Ask for a copy of the filed cue sheet. SOCAN tells composers to ask production companies for copies "for your records". Check titles, durations, names and shares against your registrations. Time: 15 minutes, plus the wait for a reply.
6. Check it was filed with the society. Koda advises you to "check if this has been done." If the producer will not file, ask your society whether a member may submit it; SOCAN, for one, accepts member submissions online or by email.
7. Watch your statements. Performance money follows broadcast and reporting, so the first payment can come statements later. If a placement never shows up, the cue sheet and your registration are the first two things to compare.

What it costs

Fees from the IPRS portal guide, seen 27 Oct 2026. Total time on your side: about two to three hours per placement, spread over weeks.

What we think

The placement fee feels like the win, so the cue sheet gets treated as admin someone else handles. That is the mistake. The producer files it, but the producer is not paid by it; you are. A misspelt title or a missing share is invisible to them and costly to you. Our rule: no cue data sent, no invoice closed. Put "producer to file cue sheet with the PROs and send composer a copy within 30 days of first broadcast" into the sync agreement itself, so the check in step 5 is a contract term rather than a favour. And register before air: a sheet that points at a work your society already knows is the cleanest match there is.