[Fmpro] PRO strategy: need advice

[LesHurdle]

It's over folks.... you are seeing the tail wagging the dog..........  
and just like PRS it is the arrogance of the board[s] or the advisors  
who set the decline in motion.

L

On Oct 2, 2007, at 2:46 PM, Mark Northam wrote:

> On 10/2/07 2:27 PM, "Merritt Music Productions"  
> <chris at merrittmusic.com>
> wrote:
>
>> If the music plays on a station where PRO money is being paid out,  
>> then by
>> ASCAP or BMI contract, they MUST turn in a cue sheet, and that cue  
>> sheet
>> MUST list only the actual writer of the music.
>
> Not really. ASCAP and BMI have for years established a precedent  
> where any
> person's name (has to be a writer member of a PRO) can be put on a  
> cue sheet
> and the PROs will pay, even when it's common knowledge that the  
> person whose
> name (or alias) is in the writer column on the cue sheet did not  
> write the
> music. It's a total abandonment of the most important element of  
> integrity
> in their entire repertoire - that the database reflects who  
> actually wrote
> the music. Talk about selling the industry down the river.
>
>> Mark, is there some way to anonymously report cue sheet fraud?  Some
>> organization that will track down the listed composers and verify?
>
> The PROs conveniently make this impossible, since cue sheets can  
> only be
> seen by those whose names are on them. You can file a complaint,  
> but the
> PROs defer to a legal judgment, which is usually beyond the financial
> ability of most members to achieve due to legal costs, etc. Plus,  
> you're
> assuming the PROs care about cue sheet fraud. Don't forget (see  
> above), the
> PROs are the chief enablers of cue sheet fraud by knowingly  
> allowing people
> to put their name down as writers on cue sheets who didn't write  
> the music.
> And let's not forget the ASCAP Board a few years ago actually voted  
> DOWN a
> measure that would have ASCAP take a stand in principal against cue  
> sheet
> fraud. The precedent (for years) and this vote sends a message loud  
> and
> clear to those who want to rip off composers via cue sheet fraud:  
> FULL SPEED
> AHEAD, IT'S OK WITH ASCAP.
>
> How sad it is that the ASCAP Board of Directors cares more about  
> eliminating
> independent candidates from the ballot than eliminating phony  
> writers from
> cue sheets.
>
> Best,
>
> Mark Northam
>
>
>
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