[Fmpro] ASCAP bashing

[Mark Northam]

On 4/29/08 4:32 AM, "Pete" <musical411 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Just because ASCAP doesn't follow each of our personal
> ideal set of rules doesn't mean they are doing
> anything wrong.


Pete, obviously ASCAP can do no wrong in your eyes, so we might as well end
our discussion with that. Your role on this list as the ultimate apologist
for ASCAP has been firmly established for some time now.

Thousands of composers suffer under the financial oppression of rules
designed to divert money to songwriters and a critical part of the
democratic election process has been rendered inaccessible to all but the
wealthy who might be able to mount a signature drive of that magnitude.

I suppose that the defense of such practices by people who have been
conditioned to think there's nothing wrong with that kind of outrageous
treatment is exactly how ASCAP can continue it. When people have suffered so
long with an injustice that they now see nothing wrong with it, they have
accepted the second-class status assigned to their music by the songwriters
and now, incredibly, defend it, like some case of Stockholm Syndrome. It's a
great example of why we need to urgently educate and inform the next
generation of composers about the injustices that so many of the current
generation are either afraid or unwilling to take action to reform.

I think when smart, well-informed people like Ted refuse to join ASCAP, it
can send a message loud and clear to the ASCAP Board: your business
practices towards composers are unacceptable. In the end, ASCAP has left
composers no other way to express their objection to these policies. The
route to the Board for independent candidates via petition has been blocked,
members are shut out of the decision making process at ASCAP thanks to
secret board meetings, etc. and the discriminatory policies continue
unabated. In the end, composers - at least those who believe there is
something seriously wrong with the current "system" - are left with no
choice but to vote with their "feet" as ASCAP has closed off all routes of
internal reform.

Best,

Mark Northam