[Fmpro] Using a foreign PRO for foreign Royalty Collections

[Josh Silver]

> Another interesting item is foreign payment representatives. The US  
> PROs
> allow Publishers to appoint them (they're called sub-publishers) and  
> most
> publishers do this, so their foreign royalties go from the foreign PRO
> (which they don't have to be a member of) to the local subpublisher,  
> then
> directly to the publisher. Much faster than waiting for the money to  
> filter
> through the "society system" which is the only choice currently  
> available to
> writers who do not want to be hassled with all the red tape of  
> multiple PRO
> memberships around the world. Imagine if you could open an account  
> with a
> global financial services firm, say American Express. Then, imagine  
> if in
> the major royalty-paying countries, you could instruct the foreign  
> PRO to
> pay your royalties directly into your AMEX account in that country,  
> and for
> a small fee you'd not only get your money much faster, but you'd  
> also see
> the exact amount paid into your account with a paper trail.

It really sounds like a big hassle to join 30 different international  
PROs in order to collect my international royalties accurately and  
quickly, so going with sub pubs might be the way to go.  So what I'm  
wondering is how does one go about finding sub publishers?  Who  
assumes these roles?  How do they get paid?  How do we know we can  
trust them?  This is all pretty new to me...

If I just bit the bullet and went through all the red tape of joining  
all the relevant international PROs, would I be better off than if I  
took the easier route with sub publishers?

Thanks so much for the help,
Josh