[Fmpro] Wow

[Scott Healy]

I'm trying to think of a suitable analogy: you're a contractor and you want
to wire a house, so you call a highly skilled electrician who installs
wiring for $100, and the rental agent (not you) will pay him back a
percentage of a month's rent when the property leases. But you get to say
you worked on the house and have pride in your job.

I can't believe what is expected for basically nothing. The producer is not
paying anything for the music, surely making tons of revisions, then the
network foots the bill via BMI or ASCAP 2 or 3 quarters later, maybe?? Are
you protected from other reuse, secondary markets, etc?

Who would work like this? An attorney? A plumber? A cab driver? What about
expenses, what about performance fees, say nothing about unions, benefits,
everything else. How can you run a business with no cash flow?

What if the show you worked on never airs? It does happen.

I know this has been done for years in daytime TV, but we're not talking
here about a quick sting or 10 second logo, we're talking about orchestra
cues???? What the F$%#$#!!


> From: Tracey Larvenz <tlarvenz at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
> Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:43:55 -0800
> To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] Wow
> 
> Hey Mark!
> 
> I'd say that $100 in any market for a primetime cue is horrible, but
> that's just my opinion.  We are all clearly aware of the shortcomings
> of the ASCAP payout and many of those on this list are working
> towards changing that.  In the meantime however, accepting $100 as a
> composer fee, even for a college student working his way up, degrades
> the value of our work as a whole.  Next up, working for free and
> hoping that ASCAP catches our cue and decides to pay us for it?
> Tracking is also a huge problem that affects our wallets too, as
> Fernando gave an example just a couple of minutes ago.  We need to
> protect the value of our work on all fronts, not just the back end.
> 
> Tracey
> 
> 
> On Nov 30, 2006, at 9:21 AM, Mark Northam wrote:
> 
>> Hi Tracey -
>> 
>> Thanks for the feedback. In my own opinion, $100 per cue is not bad
>> pay in
>> some markets, and the composer who posted this is an established
>> composer on
>> his way up.
>> 
>> What I don't understand is this: Composers are subjected to an 80%
>> penalty
>> for each one-minute cue when it comes to performing rights
>> royalties when
>> you compare a minute of song's royalty rate to a minute of score. This
>> affects ALL composer's wallets FAR more than a few hundred dollars of
>> up-front money on one gig here or there. Yet where's the outrage?
>> Composers
>> are losing millions of dollars each year due to ASCAP's anti-
>> composer payout
>> rules, yet few people complain.
>> 
>> Your thoughts?
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> Mark Northam
>> 
>> 
>> On 11/30/06 9:11 AM, "Tracey Larvenz" <tlarvenz at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Honestly, I don't think that this posting should be up on FMN.
>>> This is the
>>> kind of thing that all of us are trying to fight against.  By
>>> posting it, we
>>> are not only condoning it, but assisting in its proliferation and
>>> practice.
>>> I don't think that this posting is in our community's best interest,
>>> although I know that this conversation has been brought up before
>>> with some
>>> previous job postings.  We don't stand to gain anything by having
>>> it posted,
>>> but we all lose out if someone takes the job.
>> 
>> ---------------------------------
>> Mark Northam - Publisher
>> Film Music Magazine
>> The Professional Voice of Music for Film & TV
>> http://www.filmmusicmag.com
>> 1-800-774-3700 x702 / (310) 645-9000 x702
>> 
>> 
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