[Fmpro] Britons turn off television and put down the paper as they take up broadband

[Mark Northam]

More reasons why the PROs need to spend more time understanding technology
and trends and getting their arms around how we will be paid royalties for
downloads and streams and less time trying to hide their own attendance
records from the membership...

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1960096,00.html

And come to think of it, enough of the "I Create Music" sideshow/distraction
plastering the pages of the ASCAP site, magazine, letters with royalty
checks, etc. ASCAP's core business model is being threatened by a new form
of content distribution and instead of hearing about how they're going to
address this, we instead hear about how exciting the next sanitized trade
show they're planning in 6 months will be which, I expect, will avoid all
discussion of any serious issues regarding royalties for instrumental music
and the blatant inequities that ASCAP aims at instrumental composers. Last I
heard, ASCAP was primarily in the business of collecting license fees and
paying royalties, not putting on shows and exhibitions with our royalty
dollars...  

What about watermarking and the fact ASCAP has avoided this technology for
years in favor of technology that primarily benefits songs and is all but
useless for music on television, ASCAP's largest revenue source?

What about the elections and the virtual elimination by the ASCAP Board of
any serious opposition (aka independent condidates)?

What about the weightings, among the most prejudicial against instrumental
music in the world?

What about the REAL ISSUES that will shape our financial future as composers
and our income streams?

If anyone hasn't figured out yet that this is rapidly becoming a back-end
only business, where royalties will be our primary if not sole form of
compensation, that's clearly where things are headed fast.

Best,

Mark Northam

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