A Philippine songwriter whose track appears in a streaming series needs more than a screen credit. Under FILSCAP’s April 2026 distribution rules, the platform’s payment is divided first by the production’s streams, then by the seconds of music documented in that production. No cue sheet means the production’s composition royalties enter a suspense account.
FILSCAP means the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the collective management organisation for compositions listed as accredited by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. Its rules amended on 20 April 2026 describe how it allocates money received from over-the-top services, or OTTs, including Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+ and Prime Video. The rule describes allocation of money FILSCAP receives; it is not a promise that every placement generates a payment.
The payment passes through two calculations
FILSCAP processes each OTT separately. First it allocates that service’s distributable royalty to a movie or show in proportion to the production’s streams among all productions on that service. Then it divides the production’s allocation among the musical works used in it by duration, at one point per second.
The society’s example starts with PHP 1,000 paid by an OTT for distribution. A production with 100 of the service’s 1,000 reported streams receives PHP 100. If one song accounts for 10 of the 100 music-duration points in that production, that song receives PHP 10 of the composition allocation, before the interested parties’ shares are applied. Those figures illustrate the formula, not a Philippine market rate.
That second step changes what a label should request from a production company. A placement confirmation says the music was used; a cue sheet records which work was used and for how long. The latter is the document the royalty calculation needs.
A missing cue sheet moves money into suspense
FILSCAP’s OTT rule says royalties for a production without a corresponding cue sheet form part of its suspense account. The April 2026 document does not give that OTT suspense a fixed release date, so an artist should not assume a particular recovery window from the general rules for unidentified or incomplete works.
The rules also exclude a production or work from this FILSCAP allocation to the extent an OTT has directly licensed it. A direct licence is therefore a contract-check question, not a cue-sheet substitute: establish which composition rights the deal covers, which territories it covers, and whether any collective royalty remains available.
The sound recording is a separate asset. Philippines Recorded Music Rights, or PRM, represents producers and performers of recordings, while FILSCAP’s OTT calculation concerns the underlying song. Our guide to Philippine recording royalties explains that split. A distributor’s master-delivery report cannot by itself tell a songwriter whether the production’s cue sheet reached FILSCAP.
Build a placement file before the programme goes live
For each sync, keep the signed agreement, production title, episode and version, platform, territory, start and end time of each use, exact work title, all writer and publisher names, and their agreed shares. Ask the production’s music supervisor or administrator who submits the cue sheet and request a copy. Check that the song registration uses the same titles and parties.
When a statement arrives, compare the reported service, production and usage period with that file. FILSCAP says its allocations take account of the service agreement and usage data, so the PHP 1,000 example cannot be reverse-engineered from a viewing screenshot. If a work is absent or misidentified, the society’s rules provide for a written adjustment claim within two years of the relevant distribution.
This is where clean distribution metadata helps, even though it does not replace a cue sheet. Keep the recording identifier, composition details and split approvals together in the label’s catalogue record, then hand the verified work details to the screen-rights contact. The Philippine public-play royalty guide shows another reason to maintain that distinction: the same track can produce different claims through different uses.
The practical test is simple: can you identify the exact song, the seconds used, and the person responsible for the cue sheet? If any answer is missing, fix the paperwork while the production team can still verify it.
