[Fmpro] Music biz hopes to profit from consumer content

[Mark Northam]

One must ask whose interests would be adversely affected by more accuracy in
tracking and paying performing rights royalties...

My guess: the fat cats who benefit handsomely from the "surveys" and other
antiquated ways of estimating what is on the air, that's who... They would
see their checks go down as more legitimate performances from smaller
players in the system are identified and paid.

Why do you think CPA music, the single most prevalent form of music on
television (over 50% of the performances by one survey) is so poorly
tracked? Can you imagine what would happen to the fat cats' checks if that
music was actually tracked and paid, even at the paltry rate it's been
valued at by ASCAP? History is full of examples where a small, numerical
minority uses secret rules and a massive devaluation of the work of the
majority to financially suppress and artificially increase the power and
wealth of the minority so it can retain control over the majority.

So one must ask, if CPA music is the most prevalent form of music on TV,
ASCAP's largest revenue source, why is there not a single CPA composer on
the ASCAP Board? Will there be one among the "handpicked opponents" that
will be announced 3 days before the ballots go out later this month?

It's the white elephant standing in the middle of the room at ASCAP, BMI and
SESAC. They would simply offend too many of their rich members by being more
accurate in tracking, so they devalue and ignore CPA music as best they can,
as if it wasn't really music at all, but some lower form of music, unworthy
of any serious efforts to track it via automation and deserving of payment
only for the few and the fortunate. It's exactly why digital watermarking or
any other kind of automated tracking of music on television that would solve
the "CPA Problem" overnight seems to be off the table at ASCAP.

No wonder the ASCAP Board is so afraid to release their attendance records -
can you imagine what else must be discussed (or not) at these secret
meetings? If the ASCAP Board was were serious about the "transparency"
garbage Marilyn Bergman spouts from time to time, imagine if the membership
knew...

... Who voted to create the blatantly self-serving (to the incumbents, of
course) 1000+ signature rule, eliminating independent candidates
... Who voted to defeat ASCAP taking a position against cue sheet fraud
... Who voted to not implement digital watermarking (or delay it )
... How many minutes of song were on the air on TV vs. how much of the
distribution money they got
... And so much more that ASCAP's many layers of secrecy and management are
working overtime to make sure members never find out.

We simply must keep asking questions and holding each and every ASCAP Board
Member personally and professionally liable for the decisions they make, en
masse or individually. Now at election time, more than ever.

Best,

Mark Northam


On 1/2/07 4:17 PM, "Dana from Serious Vanity Music" <dana at seriousvanity.com>
wrote:

> It seems like it would be the obvious answer!  And I know they've gotten far
> more precise with these things since the days of the old Mp3.com when there
> were literally artists running rackets to get more money from downloads.
> Why CAN'T it be (or isn't it being) used from a licensing/royalty standpoint
> (No need to answer)?
> 
> Dana Detrick-Clark
> Serious Vanity Music
> http://www.seriousvanity.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Les Hurdle" <leshurdle101 at yahoo.com>
> To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
> Cc: <js1 at MusiciansUnion.org.uk>; <daw at procomposers.org>;
> <Singulargf at aol.com>; <ellis.rich at prs.co.uk>; <jlofrumento at ascap.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 9:36 AM
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] Music biz hopes to profit from consumer content
> 
> 
>> One is left wondering why the PRO's and unins can't
>> use this fingerprinting tech? [below]
>> 
>> Or is it the will?
>> 
>> les

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