[Fmpro] ASCAP & Taxes

[Pete]

I doubt anyone assumes that the money is collected on
their behalf at no expense. If they do, then they
probably believe in the tooth fairy too.

Comparing ASCAP to a bank or a stock broker seems a
little Apples-vs-Oranges to me.

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

--- Mark Northam <mnortham at gmdgroup.com> wrote:
> I wonder how many people realize that the amounts on
> their statements for
> incoming foreign royalties are NOT what ASCAP
> received for payment to them
> and that amounts not disclosed on their statements
> are being deducted from
> every payment that comes in for members! Hard to
> request information when
> you don't know it's being hidden from you.
> 
> I'll bet if you did a poll of ASCAP members
> (especially those not on the
> FMPRO list!), the vast majority believe that the
> amounts showing on their
> statements are the amounts paid to ASCAP on their
> behalf. I also believe
> that they would choose to see all the numbers on
> their statements, not just
> the "final amount" of incoming foreign royalties
> after ASCAP deducted
> whatever charges they deem appropriate. It's
> ludicrous to think that members
> would actually choose to have ASCAP (or any other
> financial organization)
> hide their fees from them.
> 
> Obviously ASCAP already has this information (the
> gross amounts received
> from foreign societies to be paid to its members),
> as it has to take it's
> deductions from this. To me, it's a choice on
> ASCAP's part to show this
> information to members or not on the statements.
> It's one more column,
> that's all. 
> 
> Like I said before, no bank or financial institution
> would ever get away
> with this level of non-disclosure on customer
> statements. But I can hardly
> blame ASCAP. After all, if it doesn't disclose the
> amount of fees it charges
> on statements and makes it impossible to confirm
> those amounts with third
> parties (the foreign PROs), it sure cuts down on
> those pesky member
> complaints.
> 
> MN
> 
> On 6/3/07 10:59 PM, "Pete" <musical411 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > I wonder how many people request that data from
> ASCAP.
> > I wonder how much it would cost to compile and
> report
> > that data. I wonder how many people would be
> willing
> > to pay for that data. Not that it's not do-able,
> but
> > everything costs money.
> > 
> > P e t e
> > S u r d o v a l


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow