Melissa Gorga Misses Out on Music Residuals

Melissa Gorga claims to have co-written the five songs she released on i-Tunes. According to a story published at LALATE on September 11, 2013, Melissa is missing out on countless checks for music residuals (performance, songwriting and publishing shares) because she is not registered with BMI and ASCAP.

As reported by LALATE, in the U.S., residuals for music are handled through BMI and ASCAP; however, Melissa Gorga does not come up in either database, unlike Countess LuAnn from RHONY, who has everything recorded correctly for her songs.

“Luann has released two songs, and she has everything registered perfectly with BMI. On both she is getting songwriting residuals checks, personally, and publisher residuals, through a publishing entity registered with BMI as well.”

So where is the music money going for Melissa? According to LALATE:

“Both Gretchen and Gorga are entitled to at least their performance rights and songwriting share on all their songs. It remains unclear if they retained publishing share on their songs as well. But while Gorga does not come up in ASCAP nor BMI’s database, Rossi is a bit more problematic. Of her three songs, Gretchen is known by ASCAP to be a co-songwriter on two songs. ASCAP indicates that Rossi wants to get her residuals to paid by BMI. But ASCAP knows of no BMI registration for Rossi. And BMI has no record of Rossi or where to send her checks to either.

“And while the Countess might have all her music rights lined up correctly for residuals checks, it remains unclear what is going with Gretchen and Gorga. While the ladies of RHOA have been fighting over residuals for years, the women of the RHOA and RHONJ might still be tardy to payment party.”

Melissa’s songs were produced by Joe and Melissa Gorga’s own “label,” AGJ Entertainment LLC – A (Antonia), G (Gino), J (Joey) – which was established two years 10 months ago out of Montville, NJ (file No. 0400379507).

According to FW reader pjbottoms:

“My brother is a sound engineer and music producer in Nashville and said that all of the profits from a recording are tied into publishing. The two organizations that Melissa is not registered with are the legit clearinghouses for residuals. It used to be you sign with a record label and they take care of all this stuff. Now anyone can become a singer and get people to buy their music. Melissa just has a platform (Bravo) for PR and thus can appear famous and have access to the award shows and concerts where famous people hang out. In my day, we called these people ‘groupies.’ If Melissa registers officially, the people in the music industry will see where she ‘officially’ stands in regards to others. The Countess doesn’t care because she recorded her songs for fun and profit.”

According to FW reader Salty Margarita:

“If Melissa Gorga did indeed write a piece of any of these songs, she would have a mechanical song split claim for each sale made… Whoever puts out the master (a record label for example) pays the publisher these rates per the reported sales. If she owns the masters of these songs (and it appears she and Joe themselves put out the masters as they do not seem to have a distribution deal with anyone), then she would be paying herself her rate for her share of the song, and she would also have to pay her co-writers on the songs their mechanicals since she as the master owner will receive the reported sales numbers and income from the sellers (iTunes, Amazon, etc). This requires a very honest accountant, as I have seen indie publishers who are not too honest about reported sales. She would have set up a publisher name (it can be her own LLC or a major administrator if she signed with one, but this is DOUBTFUL, as they would not bother with small potatoes like her), registered this publisher name with her PRS, and use that publisher credit on her release’s label copy. A songwriter does not have to register with a PRS. Some don’t bother, but it’s recommended that you do since they protect you and keep track of your performance income everywhere in the US.” [Full comment in the comment section of this blog.]

The following are Amazon rankings for Melissa’s five songs as of September 12, 2013.

On Display
Original Release Date: August 13, 2011
Label: AGJ Entertainment
Copyright: 2011 AGJ Entertainment
Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  )
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,854 Paid in MP3 Albums

How Many Times
Original Release Date: April 29, 2012
Label: AGJ Entertainment
Copyright: 2012 AGJ Entertainment
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,209 Paid in MP3 Albums

Rockstar
Original Release Date: June 10, 2012
Label: AGJ Entertainment
Copyright: 2012 AGJ Entertainment
Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,268 Paid in MP3 Albums

I Just Wanna (feat. Santino Noir)
Original Release Date: September 9, 2012
Label: AGJ Entertainment
Copyright: 2012 AGJ Entertainment
Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,056 Paid in MP3 Albums

Never Let Me Go
Original Release Date: August 25, 2013
Label: AGJ Entertainment
Copyright: 2013 AGJ Entertainment
Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,028 Paid in MP3 Albums

Related:

• Melissa Gorga is Annoyed That Teresa Giudice Thinks She Wrote ‘On Display’ About Her; Antony Bitar Wrote ‘On Display’
• Melissa May Have Sold Out Her Husband’s Family for Less Than $20,000 from iTunes Sales of Her Songs
• Melissa Gorga Sings Her New Single “Never Let Me Go” Live Without Autotune and Attends VMAs
• Melissa Sings Off Key with a Backing Track at Red, Hot and Boom in Orlando