[Fmpro] ASCAP Check

[Mark Northam]

Hi Marinho -

Sorry to hear of this, but we get reports like this frequently. A few months
ago I was speaking to someone who worked in ASCAP Member Services and heard
directly about questionable bookkeeping, very high turnover in the member
services department (he reported many unhappy, poorly paid employees with
little or no chance of promotion) and people who simply don't care. One
person in member services we spoke to told us he found out that an incorrect
payment was made to someone with a similar name to a member. He called the
member who SHOULD have been paid and told him. Then he found another case of
the same thing happening - we're talking about 5-figure amount here. He said
his boss told him to "say nothing" and not inform the member who lost the
money. Time and time again there are reports of outrageously bad service, no
return phone calls, etc by ASCAP member services personnel, and what is done
about it? It's almost as if ASCAP tolerates this kind of thing just to keep
the "small guys" contained and out of the way. Maybe if these small guys get
frustrated enough at being blown off, not having their emails returned, etc,
they'll shut up and go away and stop bothering ASCAP.

Here, Marinho goes to all the trouble and expense of sending in his cue
sheets and airdate schedules by certified mail, and ASCAP loses them.

For what it's worth, in the 10 years we've been publishing Film Music
magazine, we haven't received a single complaint about a BMI member being
treated poorly by their member services department. To me, that fact speaks
volumes.

But amazingly, executives at ASCAP are never held responsible for the
incompetence of their organization, whether it be for situations like this
or multi-million dollar losses like IMJV which ASCAP management has yet to
admit the extent of. The same guy who made the infamous comments that
exploded the Girl Scout fiasco years ago is made CEO - so much for
management taking responsibility for ANYTHING at ASCAP.

The arrogance there knows no boundaries, there is no accountability, and
transparency is little more than a cheap sales slogan used at election time
or member renewal time. There are no checks and balances, and the board
created language that destroyed most members appeals processes at ASCAP. It
is an organization utterly out of control whose actions, time and time
again, demonstrate contempt for members who don't have major catalogs.

Mark Northam

P.S. I've been waiting 6 months with no response from PRS for a claim I
filed through ASCAP for unpaid royalties they had waiting for me in the UK.
6 months later, no response from PRS even when I provided them exact
information from their OWN FILES about the payments that needed to be made.
The arrogance of these societies towards writers is hardly limited to ASCAP.


On 11/24/07 10:14 AM, "Marinho Nobre" <marinho at manommg.com> wrote:

> Now, I called them again
> yesterday, and not only the person I spoke to no longer works there but they
> have no track, trace or recollection on any of the material I have sent.
> Meaning, after all the effort and faith that something might work on all of
> this, I have squat. Nothing. Zip. Back to square one.