[Fmpro] 1:1 finer points

[Mark Northam]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmpro-bounces+markn=gmocorp.com at nxport.com [mailto:fmpro-
> bounces+markn=gmocorp.com at nxport.com] On Behalf Of Pete
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:44 PM
> To: fmpro at nxport.com
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] 1:1 finer points
> 
> A: is fine with me as long as it doesn't cause all the songwriters to take
their valuable
> catalog out of ASCAP and over to BMI. And if ASCAP paid jingles and promos
the
> same as background instrumental, I'd take my instrumental catalog over to
BMI.

Given that on television, score far more prevalent than song, ASCAP should
be far more concerned with score composers leaving than songwriters. On
radio, of course, it's the reverse. Given that score + CPA
(jingles/promos/ads) together is probably 80-90% of the music on television,
it's not the songwriters ASCAP (or anyone else) should be worried about
leaving ASCAP. Remember, broadcasters do not pay for songs and score, they
pay for music "by the pound" if you will, based on how much catalog from a
PRO they use. There is not a single word about the value of score vs song in
any ASCAP broadcaster agreement, and old wive's tales about how "all the
broadcasters care about is hit songs" were long ago debunked by direct
information from broadcasters about the negotiations, specifically by
Willard Hoyt of the Television Music Licensing Committee, available here:

http://www.gmostore.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=41


> 
> B: Visual Vocal and Visual Instrumental are currently paid the same.
Actually, Visual
> Instrumental is paid as much as ANY vocal. Vocal Theme and Instrumental
Theme
> are currently paid the same. The question is, "what's a Background Vocal
usage"? If
> people are listening to the lyrics, isn't it in the foreground?

OK, but a great trumpet or violin solo (Shindler's list, for example) could
be far more attention-grabbing and heard/noticed/listened-to by an audience
than, say, a muddled lyric for a song barely audible under a fight scene.
People "listen" to all music in a film, not just the songs. Yet, a minute of
John William's amazing Shindler's list score will be paid only 20% of what
the muddled song with barely-heard lyrics is thanks to the ruling
songwriters at ASCAP and their policies about background vocals vs
background instrumentals. 

That's exactly the problem with ASCAP's "all background vocals are features"
rule on television pertaining to music within shows. Assuming the very
presence of "lyrics" puts the music into the foreground is a stereotype and
generalization that does little more than enrich songwriters and lyricists
at the expense of composers. It's as silly as saying that "every tall person
is a good basketball player." While the rule re: the role of songs is true
in some cases, it hardly makes sense or is fair to assume it is true in all
cases and use that as a basis for the distribution of hundreds of millions
of dollars of our royalties each year. Yes, there are extremes on both side
of this (background vocals vs background instrumentals), and for that very
reason we need to find a new policy that truly recognizes the way the music
is performed and its importance to the scene if there indeed is to be such a
whopping pay difference between "featured" and "non-featured" music.


Best,

Mark Northam

 
> --- On Tue, 6/24/08, Christopher Alpiar <chris at alpiar.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: Christopher Alpiar <chris at alpiar.com>
> > Subject: [Fmpro] 1:1 finer points
> > To: fmpro at nxport.com
> > Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 10:58 PM
> > This is REALLY important and the answer here will have some
> > serious
> > impact to some hopefully forward moving stuff. I really
> > appreciate
> > some answer from the old school gang on this :) Thanks!
> >
> > When you say you want 1:1 and when you say PROs in Europe
> > pay 1:1 do
> > you mean that
> >
> > A. ALL music used in a show, regardless of Visual,
> > Background, Source,
> > Theme, instrumental, Vocal - it should ALL be paid the same
> > exactly?
> >
> > B. ALL music in the SAME CATEGORY regardless of vocal or
> > instrumental
> > should be paid the same? (IE VISUAL VOCAL and VISUAL
> > INSTRUMENTAL paid
> > the same and BACKGROUND VOCAL and BACKGROUND INSTRUMENTAL
> > paid the
> > same but VISUAL paid on a different scale than BACKGROUND,
> > and THEME
> > paid on a different scale)
> >
> >
> > Christopher Kennedy Alpiar
> > Cinematic Composer
> > 937.294.0900 (Dayton Studio)
> > 310.339.9603 (Los Angeles)
> > 877.294.0912 (Toll Free)
> > www.alpiar.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> The Film Music Pro List is sponsored by Film Music Magazine -
> http://www.filmmusicmag.com
> 
> Best of FMPRO: http://www.fmproquotes.com - Quotes site  by Billy Hale
Music
> 
> To edit your list options or unsubscribe, visit:
> http://nxport.com/mailman/listinfo/fmpro