[Fmpro] SOCAN Bits

[Sean Goble]

Dave: 
If you get a minute, please take a quick read of my response to Les 
regarding ?membership? and ?limited territory deals? last week.  You can 
create a limited territory deal and still be a SOCAN member for worldwide 
ex. that country.  We just don?t generally encourage it, especially since 
there is no lost money in having us pursue foreign monies for you.  Keep 
in mind that most experiences you will hear are from a US PRO point of 
view.  If you are unhappy with a lack of payment from SOCAN, call us and 
ask and we?ll chase it for you.  But Les is right, you have to keep track 
of your catalogue yourself so that we know whom to chase.  That being 
said, if you really wish to consider a limited deal or you would like more 
answers, please give us a call and if the info centre doesn?t give you 
enough detail, ask for me and I?ll discuss it with you.
        Pump Audio does retitle their tracks.  This is, and will continue 
to be a difficulty with collection until something changes.  I have found 
myself on their site searching through their catalogue for works so that I 
can get the Pump Audio # that is provided to us.  We do have a system in 
place where you can enter alternate titles and if your music is in Pump 
Audio, find it (or ask for it) and include it as an aka.  This is not the 
same as a derivative in our systems.

Mark: 
I can?t see a way that we could set that up.  Our policy is to pay to the 
writer (we run into trouble even when a member?s publisher wants to 
collect on his or her behalf) to ensure that no third party takes off with 
writer?s performance royalties.  We try to maintain as much transparency 
as we can with our members but I can understand the frustration of foreign 
non-member writers with the various black boxes that float around PROs. 
SOCAN does allow our members to ?drill down? to see what society has paid 
them what foreign income along with the dollar amount but I do get that 
not everyone does.  All I can suggest is that you try, through the AGM or 
a sympathetic ear, to get your PRO to change their policy.  I know some 
people are ROTFLTAO with that, but it?s all I?ve got.  Move to Canada? :-)

Les: 
As we are a non-profit organization ?$$? doesn?t enter into the equation. 
The stance you appear to be taking is that our policies are ?restrictive.? 
I don?t understand this as we allow for limited territory deals and no one 
can be represented for world with multiple PROs, which is true of any and 
all PROs.  Think of the Bedlam if PRS, SACEM, SOCAN and ASCAP were all 
claiming on behalf of a writer for a performance recorded by ACDAM. 
Everyone, yourself and the people you?ve spoken to that deal with multiple 
PROs, have one society that claims for "worldwide excluding".  I can?t 
speak for Australia, but we do allow limited territories with our members. 
 I stand by all the drawbacks I listed in my second email regarding 
limited territory deals and we make no money either way.  It does depress 
me that some writers have been put in a position where they are inherently 
suspicious of PROs as it is the writers that we are owned and operated by. 
 I can?t speak on behalf of other PROs but SOCAN attempts transparency 
wherever possible.  The "company" in "company line" was a truism: you know 
that.
As for publishers and sub-publishing, we don?t lose any money as this is 
foreign income and as before stated, we don?t take a percentage for 
collection of foreign income.  So the publishers get their money via 
sub-pubs and foreign versions of their pub (or direct as you are calling 
it) and all other publishers that received their money through SOCAN 
received theirs, as reported by foreign societies and requested by SOCAN. 
And apples to apples, they both receive the same amount for each 
performance as both were only charged by the foreign society once. 
If SOCAN members have questions regarding this discussion or any other, I 
truly encourage them to contact the info centre for answers and if you 
don?t receive the detail you need from them, you can ask for me and I will 
gladly field the call personally.  Les, you are entitled to answers as 
well and I would encourage you to contact your PRO(s?) and get them to 
inquire regarding any and all of SOCAN?s collection practices.  Our 
international department is happy to answer these inquiries from foreign 
PROs. 
As for AACO, libraries and the commercial payment debate, in Canada our 
members need to take into account that they will not receive performance 
royalties for commercials.  When you are negotiating your sync fee or 
choosing to sign with a library, make sure that you are happy with the 
fees you are receiving.  As for foreign composers, if your income is that 
reliant on commercial broadcast fees in Canada, I encourage you to 
consider this in your negotiations as well. 
        Les, I understand you have a lot of questions but I?m not able to 
answer all of them (most) on this forum.  I wasn?t expecting (foolishly) 
quite the barrage I received and I just don?t have time (and the reply 
arrows are in your responses so I can't just pick them out of my message 
quickly), as I need to work for my accounts (that's what they pay me for, 
not PR) so I?m going to have to leave some questions unanswered because 
they require research.  Which of course makes them good questions, but 
you?ll have to hit up your PRO for the answers or if they?re specifically 
SOCAN related, go to www.socan.ca.   It wasn?t my intention to set myself 
up as a representative for PROs in general or even of SOCAN and defend our 
policies or procedures.  I just figured if people had some specific 
questions regarding the system or SOCAN I could answer them but it?s 
Communications and Marketing that handle the rest of it.

Cheers,
-Sean