[Fmpro] ASCAP and Foreign Royalty Fee Disclosure

[Pete]

Mark,

They've already told me they have a 12% operating cost
(pretty damn low if you ask me). Do I need to know the
exact amount it cost to collect my 20 cents from an
airing of the Osbournes in Britain?

How much detail am I willing to pay for? Can't I just
figure in my head 12% of 20 cents is about
2-and-a-half cents? If it's more for foreign and less
for domestic (or visa-versa), do I really care?

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

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

> [I've renamed this thread to avoid confusion since
> we're now talking about
> ASCAP incoming foreign royalty fees, not taxes.]
> 
> On 6/3/07 11:44 PM, "Pete" <musical411 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > 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.
> 
> Yes, but I doubt any member would actually choose to
> have ASCAP **not**
> disclose on their statements the amount of fees they
> charge. I fail to see
> what benefit it is to ASCAP members to not disclose
> these fees on member
> statements. As I said, it's just another column.
> Assuming there is a fee
> charged is hardly a justification to fail to
> disclose the amount of that fee
> on member statements.
> 
> > Comparing ASCAP to a bank or a stock broker seems
> a
> > little Apples-vs-Oranges to me.
> 
> Let's compare ASCAP receiving an incoming foreign
> royalty amount for a
> member to Bank of America receiving an incoming
> foreign wire transfer for a
> customer.
> 
> Both ASCAP and B of A:
> 
> * Receive hundreds of millions of dollars of
> incoming foreign amounts for
> the clients/members, which are then credited to the
> client/member's account
> and paid to them. 
> 
> * Charge fees to handle the incoming foreign amount
> and pay it to the
> client/member.
> 
> Quite simply, they both handle incoming foreign
> payments that are sent to a
> US client in care of their institution. But that's
> where the similarity
> ends...
> 
> At Bank of America:
> * Original source amount that was sent is always
> disclosed
> * The currency translation rate is is always
> disclosed
> * The money is available in a few days usually
> * All fees and deductions charged by the bank are
> disclosed on the statement
> * The bank makes no effort to hinder your
> communication with the sender of
> the payment to confirm the amount
> 
> At ASCAP:
> * The original source amount that was sent is not
> disclosed on statements
> * The currency translation rate is not disclosed on
> statements
> * The money usually takes months to become available
> * No fees and deductions charged by ASCAP are
> disclosed on the statement
> * ASCAP prevents the member from communicating with
> the sender of the
> payment to confirm the amount
> 
> While banks and other financial institutions that
> handle millions of dollars
> of client's money realize their professional
> obligation to fully disclose
> all elements of the transactions, ASCAP does exactly
> the opposite and hides
> critical data from members by not including the
> original source amount, the
> translation rate, or the fees and deductions it
> charges on member statements
> when it comes to incoming foreign royalties.
> 
> You can slice this any way you want, but it all adds
> up to non-disclosure
> and an utter lack of transparency.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Mark Northam



       
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