[Fmpro] From the Job Poster We've been Discussing

[Mark Northam]

Problem is, ASCAP has virtually nullified the spirit of this rule by
allowing obvious cue sheet fraud go unchallenged for decades. They recently
signed a big animation house here in town (not SABAN), where it's been
reported for many years that writers are routinely required to sign over a
percentage of writership to a pseudonym of the CEO of the company. ASCAP's
openly embracing of this practice, widely known, sends a message loud and
clear to the membership: anything goes when it comes to writers royalties
and paying executives or anybody else who says they want a share of the
writers royalties.

Also, notice the exact language of ASCAP's rule - it refers to an
"assignment" of royalties. That means a transfer or redirection of royalties
that already are in place. When an executive demands 30% or 50% co-writer
credit just for giving you the job, that's not an assignment technically,
it's listing a co-writer on the cue sheet. Now if a writer was forced to
change a cue sheet after the fact to redirect royalties to another party,
that might be considered an assignment.

This reminds me of a huge battle I fought while on the Board of the Society
of Composers and Lyricists here on LA about 6 years ago. I fought to form an
Ethics Committee with the single goal in mind of that committee drafting a
statement taking a strong stand against cue sheet fraud - in essence saying
that if you didn't write something, you should not be on the cue sheet.
Amazingly, I had to fight an uphill battle at the SCL for almost a year to
get that established, and when they finally got tired of my pushing and made
it clear they no longer wanted me on the board, after I resigned they failed
to keep the Ethics Committee going and of course have not taken any official
stand that I can tell re: cue sheet fraud. The failure to keep the Ethics
Committee in place, I believe, was a huge mistake by the SCL and speaks
volumes to their agenda (or lack of one) as an organization regarding
fighting for the interests of score composers re: performing rights
royalties.  But as we've discussed, the lyricists are there to prevent such
things anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Best,

Mark Northam


On 11/30/06 8:10 PM, "Merritt Music Productions" <chris at merrittmusic.com>
wrote:

> This is copied and pasted from ASCAP's website:

"As a condition of ASCAP
> membership, all writer and publisher members agree
that, even in work-for-hire
> situations, the writer and not the employer will
be paid the writer's share of
> ASCAP performing rights royalties. In
addition, ASCAP's Articles of
> Association provide that, with only very
limited exceptions unrelated to
> work-for-hire situations, writer's royalties
"shall not be sold or otherwise
> disposed of." Hence, subject only to those
very limited exceptions, ASCAP will
> not honor an irrevocable assignment of
writer's royalties but will,
> notwithstanding such an
assignment, pay writer's royalties only and directly
> to the writer
member-in-interest."

END QUOTE

---------------------------------
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