[Fmpro] 80% Non-Lyric Penalty?

[Pete]

> --- Mark Northam wrote:
> Another benefit to keeping your mouth shut and
> smiling while your minute of music is whacked with >
a 80% penalty by ASCAP if it doesn't have lyrics.

My music is sometimes...

A song on the radio, which gets paid the same if it
has lyrics or not.

A TV Commercial, which gets paid the same if it has
lyrics or not.

A TV Show Theme, which gets paid the same if it has
lyrics or not.

Sometimes my music gets paid the higher feature
performance rate because it has a vocal, and uh... the
music is featured (it's a principal focus of attention
in a scene).

I also have a song *WITH LYRICS* in an
Academy-Award-Winning film that always gets paid at a
background rate. Because, uh... it was in the
background of the scene.

An instrumental (no lyric) would also be a feature
performance rate (not 80% reduced) if you see the
instrumentalist on camera. I believe an instrumental
with on-camera dancers also gets feature performance
rate as well. (I had a song paid feature rate on Monk
with dancers, but there was my vocal as well.)

And of course, I have instrumentals that are not paid
the feature performance rate because... you guessed
it, they AREN'T featured. They are also paid at the
background rate.

I hope that didn't "muddy the waters" for you and it's
perfectly clear that a minute of my music DOES NOT get
whacked with a 80% penalty by ASCAP if it doesn't have
lyrics. That statement is false.

Sometimes I earn more, and sometimes I earn less,
depending on how my music is used. But you're right,
when my ASCAP check comes, I am usually smiling. 

Best,
Pete Surdoval


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