Cue Sheet Corner

A cue sheet is a document that lists all of the musical elements in an audio/visual program. Cue sheets contain the info that ASCAP needs to pay performance royalties for A/V performances. 

A cue sheet should contain: 

Yes. The music industry has established standards in regards to terminology and what information is required on a cue sheet for it to be valid. In addition, ASCAP and BMI, in partnership with major production companies, have developed a common understanding of an industry standard. You can find a cue sheet template that follows that standard here.

The production company is typically responsible for submitting cue sheets. Even when cue sheets come in from multiple sources, ASCAP considers the production company’s version to be authoritative. If the cue sheet does not come directly from the production company, they must be on copy, or a contact email must be provided.

ASCAP always prefers to receive cue sheets via email at tvcuesheet@ascap.com. Please note that we typically only accept cue sheets from a production company or network. We cannot accept cue sheets directly from ASCAP members, unless the source of the submission can be substantiated. 

If you wish to provide a substantiated submission, forward us the email that contains the cue sheet from the production company/network, and ASCAP will review it.

In the rare instance that a cue sheet cannot be emailed, please mail a legible hard copy to: ASCAP, ATTN: Cue Sheet Department, 250 West 57th Street New York, NY 10107

We recommend that cue sheets be submitted to ASCAP as soon as possible; ideally no later than three months after the original broadcast for a television program. For a theatrically-released feature film, cue sheets should be on file before the first foreign theatrical performance to facilitate performance processing at foreign societies.

The chart on the Cue Sheet Corner page indicates when a cue sheet must be received by ASCAP in order for us to process it for the appropriate quarterly distribution.

Assuming that a cue sheet is received in a timely manner and includes all the information ASCAP needs, we try to process it in time for the distribution that reflects when the program was first broadcast. Visit our Distribution Schedule for a chart outlining when we pay for each time period. 

If there are inaccuracies or any data missing from the cue sheet, or if it’s sent after the relevant submission deadline, the cue sheet may take longer to process. 

You do not need to register your music from an audio/visual project if the music is:

In the absence of existing registrations, ASCAP will register themes, and “roll up” the underscore into one or more work registrations titled with the name of the project (e.g. “Only Murders in the Building Cues” or “Only Murders in the Building Theme”). We will create a different registration for each of the share pictures listed on the cue sheet – for example, a cue with one composer will be registered separately from a cue with two co-composers. 

You should register your music from an audio/visual project if the music: 

No. ASCAP will typically use the same cue sheet for reruns that we used on the original broadcast, unless we’re informed that there has been a change in music content on the reruns.

If the individual underscore/theme cues on a cue sheet have not been separately registered with ASCAP, then the cue titles will not appear on ASCAP Repertory Search. Underscore and theme music from a project typically appears under the name of the project (e.g. “X-Files Cues” or “X-Files Theme”).

Contact the production company and ask them to produce the cue sheet and submit it to ASCAP. You can send them this template if they don’t have one already. 

Many composers include a deal point in their contracts that the production company maintains the responsibility for submitting cue sheets.

As long as a composer notifies us by the January 31 deadline (or by December 31 for publishers), ASCAP can retroactively credit our members through the last completed survey year for royalties missed due to a late cue sheet.

Our survey year covers performances from the fourth quarter of a given year (beginning October 1) through the third quarter of the following year (ending September 30). For example, if the performance in question occurred during Survey Year 2025 (October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025), ASCAP will accept performance claims for that time period up until January 31, 2027 for composers, or December 31, 2026 for publishers.

For ASCAP to research whether any retroactive royalties may be owed, please submit a Message (select category “Performance Claims”) through your Member Access account.

RapidCue is a standardized format for submitting cue sheets digitally, developed by ASCAP and BMI in conjunction with our major cue sheet suppliers. There is a web-based RapidCue application, in addition to third party software providers, such as SoundMouse, that submit cue sheets to ASCAP and BMI in the RapidCue format. Click here for more information on RapidCue.

Long form infomercials (5 minutes or longer) require cue sheets.  For short form infomercials (under 5 minutes), commercials and promos, we use other data sources. You can find out more on our Music in Advertisements page.

If your composer’s agreement with the production company grants them publishing interest in your underscore, it is in their best interest to establish an ASCAP publishing company so they can receive performance royalties. If their publishing company is established after the cue sheets have already been filed, they will need to alert ASCAP that works on those cue sheets need to be updated to reflect this new publishing membership.

After logging into Member Access, you can find a list of cue sheets that include your music under the Works menu on the navbar. Keep in mind it can take some time for a cue sheet to appear after it has been submitted to ASCAP.

There are lots of variables involved in processing cue sheets. Before you reach out to ASCAP about a cue sheet you think is missing, please investigate:

If you still have questions about a missing cue sheet, submit a Message via Member Access (use the Category "Performance Claims" and then select the relevant topic. Please provide as much information as possible (e.g. program, work title, station(s), performance dates, etc.) to ensure ASCAP staff can research your claim thoroughly and respond to your Message.

The count of your total cue sheets, episodes, series and non-series is calculated nightly. During the day you could be added or removed from a work registration that is already matched to a cue sheet. When that occurs, that cue sheet will be added to/removed from your list, but the counts on your MA dashboard or cue sheet list will not be updated until the following day.

In Member Access, you will see all cue sheets that match to a work in your catalog. In your cue sheet list, the date you see is the earliest date that a cue on that cue sheet was matched to a work in your catalog. 

In some instances, you may have been added to a work registration after it was already matched to a cue. In that circumstance, the cue sheet date would still show the original match date, but it will be highlighted as new in your cue sheets list, and sorted to the top of the list.

Once you see a new cue sheet in Member Access, it will continue to be tagged as new until the following morning. Keep in mind that if you have assigned a designated user on your account, their “new” count is independent of yours, and will only be updated once they log in with their own credentials.

You can sign up for email alerts that will tell you about new works and cue sheets that were added to your Member Access account. Visit your Profile page in Member Access and sign up under the Email Work Update notifications. Every weekday ASCAP will review your account, and if there is a new work registration or cue sheet that you haven't seen, we'll notify you by email.

Contact ASCAP Global Member Services by sending a Message in your Member Access account, or by calling 1-800-952-7227 from 9-6pm ET, Monday through Friday. Have your ASCAP member ID handy for faster service.