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

[Pete]

Mark,

You really lost me here. You tried to start an ethics
committee because you think this practice is
unethical. You complain that, although it's officially
against ASCAP rules, they aren't doing enough to
prevent it. But, you un-apologetically run a
Ghost-Writer-Wanted ad for a guy who is looking to
commit Cue Sheet Fraud?

You can't blame EVERYTHING on ASCAP. At some point
your own personal responsibility comes into the
picture.

P e t e
S u r d o v a l

--- Mark Northam <mark at gmdgroup.com> wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
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