[Fmpro] ASCAP Cues + Rapid Cue

[Mark Northam]

On 11/24/07 4:25 PM, "Marinho Nobre" <marinho at manommg.com> wrote:

> As with everything else in ASCAP it's all about their pampered songwriters and
> new artists. 
> It has been that way from day one. They have a workshop or two for kid
> composers so everyone can believe they care, while completely zapping us out
> to little or nothing on almost every other aspect.
> It almost feels like they want to eliminate instrumental film music
> altogether... : (

They certainly have made it clear that they consider it second class music.
Just look at the "weighting" formula that rewards each and every song with
maximum feature performance payment simply because it has lyrics - even if
the music is barely heard in the background and is clearly marked as
"background" on the cue sheet. It's a complete travesty of the royalty
system that does nothing more than divert millions into the pockets of the
songwriters.

I'll never forget a few years ago reading in ASCAP's PLAYBACK magazine an
interview with some major breakout singer/songwriter who says something to
the effect of, "I'm headed out to Los Angeles so ASCAP can show me how to
write scores for films."

Make no mistake - ASCAP has a serious agenda of shoehorning songwriters into
scoring gigs - I've seen it over and over out here. Beyond being a kick in
the teeth to those (real) film composers who study doing this for years
(whether in school or by learning in the workplace), it seems to really be
"dumbing down" film and TV music to the point that guitar noodling and
songwriters editing together atmospheres, hits and loops is now passing for
"scoring".  To them, it's nothing more than a song without the lyrics.

Sort of like replacing Monet with paint-by-numbers. You've got all the same
colors, but without the experience, subtlety and skill, it utterly lacks
substance and depth.
---------------------------------
Mark Northam, CEO
Global Media Development Group

http://www.RoyaltyWeek.com - The Business of Music Royalties Worldwide

1-800-774-3700 ext. 702 / 310-645-9000 ext. 702
http://www.gmdgroup.com
Yahoo/Skype: marknortham  /  AIM: mnortham



MN