[Fmpro] Writers and Publishers

[Doug Wood]

A few comments from the past week of posts:

Non-writers: I agree that writers who are not really writers should not be
on the Board. In fact, they should not even be members of any PRO. Fraud is
fraud, and lying is lying.

Board members: Should writers who are also publishers be allowed on the
Board? Personally I'd rather have Board members who know something about the
business than pure writers who may not understand how things really work.
Generally speaking, what's good for writers at ASCAP is also good for
publishers, although the opposite is not always true. So I speak out for the
writers and let the publishers fend for themselves.

Splits: The split of royalties between composers and publishers is a matter
of contract, not law. The general rule is for publishers and composers to
each receive half of the mechanical, synch and performance royalties. Many
writers have their own publishing companies (and thus end up with more than
50% of the royalties). There are situations (some library music contracts)
where composers receive a flat up-front fee for synch and mechanical
licenses in lieu of royalties, which may, in the end, turn out to be more or
less than 50%. Joining a foreign PRO won't change your contract.

All three American PROs attempt to safeguard writers by splitting the
royalty stream into two equal parts, with half going to the writer and half
to the publisher. Not surprisingly, people have found ways to scam the
system (see my first point above), but that's more a factor of greed rather
than fault of the PROs. (More to discuss here, but not now.)

Foreign royalties: As far as foreign royalties is concerned, American PROs
receive dollar amounts for writers and publishers from foreign societies,
not raw performance data. There is a certain amount of checking to make
certain that the correct composers are credited for the correct works,
making sense out of odd translations, and preparing statements (hence the
small percentage deducted for processing at all PROs), but no re-calculation
of royalties according to domestic rules. If you earned a Euro according to
the rules of the local society, you're going to get a Euro, less the cost of
processing.   

Data: There have been some questions about whether or not I will release
sensitive or proprietary data to the public on this list. The answer is no.
There is no rule or order preventing me from doing so, just basic common
sense.

Travel: I have no information about how other members of the Board travel.

Other questions: I can't possibly answer all the machine-gun questions
thrown at me from this list. What I can say is that I believe ASCAP is the
last, best chance for composers to have their rights protected against those
who would like to take them away. While I agree there are many problems
which need to be resolved, I believe we are better off working for positive
change within the institution than trying to bring about its demise.

Doug Wood

The views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of
ASCAP, its directors, executives or staff.