[Fmpro] The ASCAP Board
Christopher Alpiar
chris at alpiar.com
Thu Jun 19 18:25:07 GMT 2008
Great to see you post again Doug. I did not know you were the initial
author of the ASCAP Bill of Rights. Let me congratulate you on a
really good document. That bill fairly sums up the issues that all
music creators face against this new world of information exchange and
technology changes. You indeed have inspired many of us and we are
working on something very similar right now (as you most likely have
heard something about) that addresses more specific issues that cover
grounds, rather from music creator to the entertainment industry and
the world at large, but instead from composers to ASCAP specifically.
When we have completed our Bill of Rights I would love to have a
channel with you for dialog concerning it. While it is not nearly as
global as yours it is just as ambitious and instrumental to prosperity
of ASCAP and its members in a different way.
As a professional performing and recording musician my whole life who
has gotten serious about and maintained a career in music composition
for the last 6 years, I am myself very interested in the direction of
ASCAP policies and the future it will leave for me and the young guys
that are just getting involved seriously and professionally as a
composer and also more generally as a music creator. I understand why
many of the policies have come about over the years. There is no
doubt. But why are there no movement currently to change the big
offenders?
From how I understand it in the US (only in the US?) background
instrumental music gets paid 20 cents to the dollar that songs get
paid. Since the radio and TV stations pay the exact same price for a
minute of either kind of music to ASCAP why are the songwriters
rewarded with 5X the income?
Why is it that we get no royalty collected from the movie houses? Its
way way past time to change this concept.
Why does ASCAP not collect mechanicals? Most every other PRO does
outside the US but you leave it up to personal negotiation. I mean it
seems insane that if you score a feature film the only royalty money
you will ever collect from it is from performances of that movie on
television
What about digital downloads? Where are we specifically and exactly on
this?
Why is it that in this day and age when any music in any format
absolutely can be tracked, why arent we yet? You mentioned that it's
coming soon, but how soon?
It is my understanding that monies from local shows are removed from
that pool and put into the national pool to supplement the national
composers. In all fairness shouldn't that money be for the local show
composers?
If ASCAP is truly an organization of by and for the members, why can't
we know the details of how our organization is run?
How are you planning to get some change in place on electing people to
the board? 1300+ signatures on HARD copy of voting-only members of
ASCAP is kind of ridiculous no? And even if we were to acquire that
amount of hard copy signatures we would still be able to have our
candidate removed from the ballet by the board is how I understand it.
That just seems beyond unfair.
I understand that some of the reluctance to address some of these
issues may very well be because of the way in which some of the gripes
have been presented. I understand also that the reason 1:1 has not
been dealt with is because of the amount of money to be lost by
powerful songwriter, lyricist and publisher entities that have sway in
ASCAP decisions. But if we really truly embrace a ubiquitous and
transparent watermarking technology and enforce the exact and precise
data (and with mandatory digital TV next year there is nothing to stop
us from knowing absolutely positively every single performance of
anything anywhere) then there is no reason why money should not be
distributed exactly and precisely from venue entities to ASCAP and
then from ASCAP to the composers, songwriters, publishers and
lyricists. The days of the vague blanket licenses need to go away and
precise tracking and payment need to flourish
I hope with all my heart that we can arrive at a new place where we
can all talk about very specifically the problems that composers face
today, specifically with ASCAP policy, but on many levels, and that
ASCAP in the interest of its own perpetuation and prosperity will have
a serious and real interest in working with us to create real and
tangible solutions with a realistic time frame. I know that ultimately
the prosperity of composers can only have a positive impact on our
industry as a whole, including songwriters, lyricists, publishers and
the PROs even as their own entities. How can you offer us assurances
that the problems and often silly issues we have had to endure for
generations are going to really truly begun to be dealt with now? If
there is anything at all that I can personally do to help us find a
path to resolution and growth please call on me.
Sincerely,
Christopher Kennedy Alpiar
Cinematic Composer
937.294.0900 (Dayton Studio)
310.339.9603 (Los Angeles)
877.294.0912 (Toll Free)
www.alpiar.com
On Jun 19, 2008, at 1:24 PM, Doug Wood wrote:
> Hi friends,
>
> It's been a while since I posted to this list but I think its worth
> making a point or two which are sometimes overlooked in the
> discussion about ASCAP and other PROs.
>
> First, some background for those who are new to the list. I am a
> classically trained composer, a library music producer, the founder
> of the non-profit Professional Composers of America, the author of
> numerous articles and pamphlets on composer's rights, and a member of
> the ASCAP Board of Directors - the first and only person ever elected
> who was not nominated by ASCAP. I was the person who led the fight
> against the 10% Cap (and won) and the person whose ASCAP Protest
> resulted in the Special Library Sample program which has brought
> almost $15 million to writers and publishers of library music. I was
> the original author of the ASCAP Bill of Rights.
>
> Second, let me say that the reason I ran for the Board, and the
> reason I continue to serve, is my belief that ASCAP - for all its
> failings and shortcomings - is the single best protection American
> composers (and songwriters) will ever have against unauthorized use
> of their music and the economic pressures from big music users who
> want music for free. You may believe that your ASCAP royalty check
> should be bigger, and you may be right, but don't overlook the fact
> that broadcasters don't like to pay for music, and if ASCAP didn't
> exist you might not have a check at all.
>
> Since my first election I have steadfastly advocated several basic
> changes at ASCAP: a realignment of the weighting formula to reflect
> current economic value of non-feature performances, the use of all
> available technology to track performances, and more transparency in
> the workings of the Board. After my surprising election in 1999 (and
> perhaps because of it!) a few influential members of the Board pushed
> for changes to the election rules regarding petitions to place names
> on the ballot. The current rules are both unreasonable and
> unnecessary, and I am now working with other Board members to find a
> way to allow members to participate in the nomination process.
>
> The ASCAP Board consists of 12 writers and 12 publishers representing
> all kinds of music, from concert music and country to film and
> Broadway, and includes tiny companies and gigantic ones. My
> background in library and advertising music gives me a different
> perspective from other members of the Board, and on several occasions
> that insight has been helpful to the Board in making decisions. (The
> distribution of millions from local cable operators comes to mind.)
> There is no single bloc of writers or publishers that dominates the
> Board, and no individual can (or should be able to) change the
> direction of ASCAP by himself.
>
> For many years, popular music - particularly songs - dominated the
> broadcast airwaves, and so its not surprising that many of the
> policies developed in the middle of the last century were centered
> around performances of songs. Today, we still live with the vestiges
> of that paradigm, with a weighting formula which uses the feature
> performance as the metric to measure all other performances. That
> will change as the makeup of the Board changes (only half of the
> Board members who were there in 2000 are still there) and ASCAP is
> able to develop and implement workable, competitive policies that
> reflect today's reality. It just takes a little time, and despite the
> occasional frustration of people like me who like to move fast, there
> is no other way to get it done.
>
> I urge readers of this list to be wary of some of the angry anti-
> ASCAP diatribes posted here, and to take some of the vague
> insinuations, wild accusations and snide "insider" information with a
> grain of salt. As I have said for many years, it's easy to get people
> upset about things (and ASCAP is the piniata of targets), but much
> more difficult to develop and champion achievable solutions which can
> actually make things better. I hope at least that all eligible
> members will vote in the ASCAP elections which will come around next
> spring.
>
> One note about public broadcasting: PBS TV and NPR radio stations pay
> a fraction of the rate paid by commercial stations (understandably),
> but it has also been the habit of many PBS and NPR program producers
> to require that theme music composers agree not to make any claims
> for performing rights. (I found this out talking to my friend B. J.
> Leiderman who wrote the theme for "Morning Edition" and many of my
> other favorite NPR shows.) Also, because PBS and NPR license fees
> are tiny, ASCAP samples these stations rather than conducting a
> complete census, which basically means that the luck of the draw will
> determine whether you can get paid or not. Until we get everything
> watermarked and fingerprinted (which may be sooner than you think)
> this will be the situation we have to live with.
>
> I am always available to ASCAP members to talk about these issues and
> to listen to your ideas. If you have unresolved problems at ASCAP I
> will do what I can to help you get them resolved (keep in mind that
> Board members do not direct daily activities at ASCAP!). My email
> is above and my phone number is below. I am in the middle of a big
> project which is consuming almost every waking hour, so please don't
> draw any conclusions if I can't answer right away.
>
> And finally, for the lawyers: The views expressed here are my own and
> do not necessarily reflect those of ASCAP, its directors, officers or
> staff.
>
> Doug Wood
> (516) 883-0121
>
>
>
>
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