The Claims Website provides information related to undistributed major label royalties. In cases where either the label or CSI has identified multiple pending or unclaimed line items that are associated with the same Musical Work, these details have been grouped together into a Pending Usage Group record. Each Pending Usage Group record corresponds to a single CSI work record, and in cases where CSI has identified the musical work, then details of the matched work will be included. The main information returned for each Pending Usage Group contains: Title, Composer(s), Distribution number and Track Value along with track and product specific details.
Select Box ( 
)– Allows you to select the Pending Usage Group(s) for which you wish to submit a claim. This must be selected in order to submit a claim against an item. If you identify that multiple Pending Usage Groups correspond to a single musical work, you can make claims against all of the relevant Pending Usage Groups in a single transaction by selecting multiple check boxes. Note that the Usage Groups must all be matched to the same musical work in order for your claims to be registered properly.
“Linked To My Work” Icon ( 
)– indicates that the Pending Usage Group has been matched to a CSI work. If you wish to submit a claim, the Pending Usage Group must first be matched to a work in CSI’s database. This can be done using the “Link To My Work” button, which will launch a search page to identify your work in CSI’s database. The Claim button will become active after the work is linked.
“Claimed” Icon ( 
) – indicates that you, or someone else registered to submit claims on behalf of your organization, have already made a claim to this Pending Usage Group.
Track Value – Each item is categorized as a Low, Medium or a High-Value Item. View “What Does this List Represent?” in the FAQ to see how values are calculated.
Expanded Work Detail ( >>) – Exists where the usage group has been matched to a musical work. Expanding the detail will provide you with the following information:
- Total unknown share % for the work
- Total share(s) of work that you have registered with CSI (via CMRRA or SODRAC)
- Total share(s) of work controlled by other rightsholders
- Work In Dispute – If the work has been identified as the subject of a disputed claim, then this field will be set to “Yes”. As per the terms of the Class Action Settlement, for any releases occurring as of January 2013, the labels will pay royalties for all works identified as disputes into the CSI Licensing Trust. CSI will review the details related to any payments and, where applicable, release any portion of royalties related to undisputed work shares. CSI will hold in suspense royalties related to disputed shares until the dispute is resolved. If you are unaware that the Musical Work in question is in dispute, please contact your representative Agency or Society (CMRRA or SODRAC), or if you are not affiliated with these organizations, contact CSI directly for details regarding the disputed information that we have on file.
- Details of licences issued for your shares (available in a separate window when triggered) – Licences will reflect one of the following statuses:
- Issued – Licence has been issued but not yet confirmed by the label
- Confirmed – Label has confirmed receipt and acceptance of the licence
- Rejected – Label has rejected the licence and the reason for rejection will appear in the “Status Narrative” field
- Royalty payment details identifying any quarters where payment has been made to you already for the item in question. This will assist you in your research to determine if you’ve already received correct payment for your share of the work as contained on the product in question.
Expanded Track Detail ( >>) – Provides additional details of the track and release product. Please note that you may encounter records where certain fields of recording data appear blank. There are two scenarios that may cause this to occur:
- When processing the record company royalty files, CSI relies on certain mandatory identifiers to link the royalty data to the complete set of recording details that was captured from the record company’s licence request for that item. This information is then displayed on the claims website. In the early royalty reporting periods for the Licensing Trust, some of the record company data either contained incorrect identifiers, or these were missing entirely. This particular issue is prevalent primarily in the 3Q2013 and 4Q2013 files. As a result, only the information that was supplied directly in the royalty reporting is available, which is most often a product identifier such as a Catalogue Number or UPC.
- Where the record company has included a Balance Forward item in their royalty reporting, there is no associated detail supplied. This is due to the fact that the Balance Forward is supplied in the royalty file alongside of the musical work as a whole, and is not associated with one particular set of release or recording information. CSI will process these line items in accordance with the remaining line items that are included in the same Pending Usage Group.
The bottom grid in the Expanded Track Detail displays the following important information:
- Publisher Name will indicate the name of the account to which royalties have been adjusted, followed in brackets by the name of the accrual account provided by the label to CSI. The Publisher Name will typically reflect a suspense account, except in cases where CSI has researched the item in question and identified the publisher to whom the amount is payable.
- Share % as indicated by the label or, in the case of adjusted amounts, the adjusted % that remains unclaimed
- In Dispute (as per Label) will indicate if the label has identified the record in question as associated with a work in dispute
- Applicable Royalty Rate indicates the rate at which payment has been made, adjusted according to the ownership share percentage
Claim Button (
)– In order to submit a claim using the “Claim” button at the bottom of the screen, the Pending Usage Group must be matched to a CSI Work. If we have not successfully matched the record in question, then you will be required to use the “Link To My Work” button to locate the correct Work record in CSI’s database for matching. If you are unable to locate the Work in our database, please contact CSI in order to register the details of the work in question.
**For “Other” User Types Only: If you have registered with a user type of “Other”, meaning that you act on behalf of multiple accounts that are not directly related (as a law firm, management company, etc), then your ability to view and submit claims is restricted to the client account which you have selected on your home page. In order to change the selected account so that you are able to view share information that is specific to that publisher/writer, and to then submit claims on their behalf, you can do this by using the radio buttons next to the accounts on your home page and pressing the “Save” button after making your selection.